


What Happens in Vegas (doesn't always stay there)

by little_fox



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-09 23:17:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11114979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_fox/pseuds/little_fox
Summary: When Yuuri wakes up after his conference with a gold ring on his finger, he thinks he made some questionable fashion choices. He certainly doesn't think it has anything to do with the joker who is suddenly emailing his coworkers and pretending to be his husband...





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why isn't this a trope used more in this fandom?? I have this fully plotted out but not yet written, and I don't have a set updating schedule in mind, but I'm hoping to finish it quickly so I don't lose my momentum. Not beta'd.

 

 

Las Vegas, Nevada

December

 

Yuuri awoke with a long, drawn out groan. Sunlight was seeping through the window shades of his hotel room, exacerbating the pounding in his head. He flopped an arm towards the offending light and shoved his face deeper into his pillow before realizing he would never get back to sleep while he felt this awful.

He groaned again. So much for a restful vacation from the office, even if he was still technically here for work. The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science conference was a big deal in their world, and Yuuri was grateful his boss had invited him along, but between the flight from Detroit and his current predicament, he suspected it would take a while before he recovered from the trip.

Head throbbing, Yuuri dragged himself into a sitting position. The room was spinning unpleasantly and his stomach was making its dissatisfaction known. He frowned. Mornings were never his favorite, but usually he didn’t feel quite this awful…he felt like he had fought with death and won, but only barely. He also had a sneaking suspicion that he had slept later than usual, although it didn’t feel like he had slept for very long. Yuuri glanced at the clock on the side table, alarmed to find that it was nearly eleven am; the onslaught of panic over a late checkout nearly made him miss the plastic cup of water sitting on the nightstand that he couldn’t remember placing there himself. Surprised at his own preparedness he reached out in the hopes that a drink would sooth his stomach but as soon as he picked up the cup he set it back down in confusion.

On his ring finger on his right hand there sat a shining, golden ring. Yuuri was positive he had not been wearing it last night and he knew he didn’t own anything like it either. It was a plain band, but something about the way it gleamed made Yuuri feel inexplicably safe and warm. He twisted it around his finger, admiring its smooth surface and the soothing feeling of the metal spinning methodically. Even his unruly stomach seemed to calm down with the repetitive movement, and he felt his mouth curve up in a small, inexplicable smile. Although he couldn’t remember where he got the ring, he couldn’t deny that it was exactly to his style, so he must have picked it up sometime after the conference ended last night.

Come to think of it…Yuuri couldn’t quite exactly remember how he had even gotten back to his room last night. He struggled to recall any snipped of the banquet after the conference, but all he could remember was showing up, humiliated, having been dragged along by his boss Celestino Cialdini.

_Celestino! He must have brought me back to the room…I’ll have to thank him. I know I go a bit despondent when I get into one of my moods, but forgetting a whole night is scary. I hate to think what would have happened if I had been alone…maybe he knows where I got this ring, too. Probably from one of those street vendors selling their little trinkets. Ugh, that’s so embarrassingly touristy! …It is a nice ring though, there’s no point in getting rid of it just because it’s cheap._

Yuuri dragged his miserable body out of bed slowly, glancing around the room. He was dressed only in his boxers, and his clothes were strewn haphazardly around the room. That was unusual, but he supposed if he had really been in as bad of a funk as he thought then he hadn’t been functional enough to complete his routines. He gathered everything slowly, deciding passively that he would skip the shower until after he arrived back home in Detroit. His skin felt sticky and disgusting but there simply wasn’t enough time before checkout to clean up his mess and shower, and he knew the flight back would leave him feeling equally gross. Instead, he brushed his teeth, made sure his outfit was comfortable enough for how awful he was feeling while being presentable enough for travel, and packed up the rest of his belongings. The ring on his hand felt unnatural still but he kept it on. There was just something about it….

Sighing heavily through his nose, Yuuri shook himself out of his musings and berated his past self for neglecting to set an alarm. He zipped up his suitcase and took one more sweep through the room and then quickly shuffled into the hallway towards the elevators. He was supposed to meet Celestino in the lobby at eleven am promptly, and after the kindness his boss had shown him during the whole trip he could at least repay the favor by being on time!

Yuuri jabbed the down-button for the elevator and impatiently watched the numbers for each elevator as they neared his floor. The left-hand elevator was steadily counting down from 44, and the right-hand elevator had begun its climb from the lobby just seconds before he had hit the call button. As he waited, he wondered idly which would reach him on the 20th floor first, deciding to get into the Vegas spirit at last by placing his bets on the rising elevator. For a few glorious seconds it seemed like he would be correct, but his pick paused on the 15th floor, ostensibly to pick up more passengers, and by the time it continued moving upwards the descending elevator had just surpassed its progress.

 _Of course I wouldn’t have any luck, even in Vegas. I should have known better than to think I could be lucky, especially after the disaster of a speech I gave…_ Yuuri groaned internally. _Don’t think about that. Not right now. It’s over and no matter which stupid elevator gets here first I’ll be leaving the city and this mess behind me either way._

A soft chime announced the arrival of the elevator on the left, and the doors opened to a blissfully empty elevator car. Yuuri stepped in quickly, suitcase in tow, and let out a soft sigh of relief as he heard an identical chime from the opposing elevator followed by the bright chattering of several voices. Conversations with strangers were the last kind of thing he wanted to deal with this morning, and he smiled to himself as he heard the cheerful goodbyes passed between the other guests. It seemed like luck must be on his side a little bit to have gotten the empty elevator. He closed his eyes and let the gentle feel of lessened gravity guide him to his fate.

 

5 months later

“Yuuri, Phichit, good morning! How was your weekend?” Emil, their receptionist, gave a smile far too wide for so early in the day as he chattered at them. “I know you’ll hear as soon as you walk in, but I can’t wait that long – Yuuri, you got another email! Sara was the lucky recipient this time, and from the way Mickey reacted, your secret admirer might not be able to stay a secret much longer.”

Yuuri groaned. He hadn’t seen his boss yet so maybe he could leave right now and call in sick…no one but Emil and Phichit had to know. His anonymous emailer was not the type of thing he had been hoping to deal with first thing on a Monday. It was way too early for this crap.

Yuuri made to walk right back out the door but Phichit apparently anticipated this move and grabbed his arm to stop him. “Come on, Yuuri, let’s see what it says this time! If it’s as romantic as the last one, I can understand why Mickey would be upset, but even he should know that it’s definitely meant for you and not for Sara.”

Yuuri glared at Phichit for foiling his escape plan and Phichit grinned back as if he wasn’t fully aware of the inner turmoil each new message brought Yuuri. He twisted the ring on his right hand out of nervous habit, a fidget he had picked up since he had woken up wearing it. Everyone at the Rehabilitation Institute of Detroit knew about Yuuri’s mysterious emailer, but it seemed as though no one understood why he was so humiliated by it.

The emails had started a few months ago after Yuuri and Celestino returned from the IADMS conference in Las Vegas. At first the emails had been sent to him directly from a man claiming to be his husband, of all things. Yuuri had laughed it off initially, assuming that it was a case of mistaken identity on his end or perhaps an elaborate prank pulled off by his coworkers. He had responded with a polite but curt ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not who you’re looking for,’ and assumed that would be the end of it. Several emails later, however, it seemed clear that the stranger was not only a real person, but someone who had met Yuuri, or at the very least seen him somewhere once. None of the emails explained why he claimed to be Yuuri’s spouse, however, and Yuuri’s sympathy and amusement at the situation had quickly turned to embarrassment and trepidation; he had blocked the email address in an attempt to end the mistaken correspondence, but apparently the mystery man was not easily deterred.

“I think my personal favorite was the one where he said you caught his eye when you stripped in front of the whole room. Can you even imagine what the real guy he’s looking for is like?” Phichit laughed, following Yuuri towards Sara’s office. It was better to just get it over with, Yuuri decided. “It’s too bad that one went to Altin, he wouldn’t forward it to me even when I begged! Although I guess it’s good that he got a scandalous one instead of Celestino.”

“Yeah, but the one Celestino got wasn’t so upstanding either…” Yuuri muttered, “his was the sappy one that said this guy fell in love at first sight with me…while I drunkenly humped his leg. Who even says that in an email?! Why did he have to send it to my boss?!”

By now, Phichit was laughing so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t be jealous since I also got my fair share of these emails, but all I got were the gloomy ones where he asks you why you haven’t responded to him yet. Boring!”

By now they had navigated their way to Sara’s department, and even from down the hallway they could hear raised voices coming out of her office. Yuuri and Phichit exchanged an exasperated glance before Yuuri sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

“You don’t have to do this with me, you know,” He told Phichit. “Whatever this new message says is going to be spread around like wildfire whether I try to stop it or not. You’ll find out eventually without having to deal with this train wreck.”

“As if! Dealing with Mickey is a two man job, Yuuri, I’d never leave you to sink like that. Besides, I know how to handle him way better than you do,” Phichit said with a wink. “Watch and learn!” He leaned into Sara’s office and pretended not to notice its two occupants were in the middle of a screaming match. “Sara! Mickey! How was your weekend? Mine was great, I went downtown with Yuuri – ”

“YOU!!!” Mickey screeched, ignoring Phichit entirely and glaring directly at Yuuri. Yuuri ignored this in favor of raising an eyebrow at Phichit; so much for him being able to handle Mickey. “What do you have to say about this?? My delicate sister has received an email containing lewd and explicit descriptions! Whatever vile person sent this claims that the message is intended for you again, but I just know that he has changed his mind and is going after Sara now instead! I’m sure of it! He must have sent her these suggestive tales in an attempt to woo her with his prose and to brainwash her into swooning into his arms. Do something about this!!”

Sara had looked affronted from the very mention of ‘delicate sister,’ but by the end her brother’s rant she looked less taken aback and more than a little fed up.

“Mickey. You know better than this! I’m not the only one getting these emails for Yuuri, and they’re clearly not for or about me. You’re going over the top with things again! If you can’t learn to control yourself, especially in the office, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to work with you anymore!”

Mickey’s demeanor changed immediately. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll go back to my desk. But,” he glared at Phichit and Yuuri again threateningly, “if I find out you had anything to do with this—”

“Mickey, leave. Now.”

Sara smiled apologetically at Phichit and Yuuri as she waved them into her office, motioning for Yuuri to shut the door behind them. She waited until they each sat down in the chairs on the far side of her desk before lighting up with a huge grin and spinning her monitor to face them.

“It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever read!” She swooned. “I’ll let you read it for yourselves quickly, but Yuuri, I have to say, you’ve caught yourself an incredibly well-written admirer! I’m jealous!”

Yuuri did not feel as though she had any reason to be jealous. He wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor of the office, or perhaps teleport back to his apartment and somehow start the day over. His stomach was doing nervous flips and he had been perspiring slightly since the first mention of a new email. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to avoid things at this point, so Yuuri squinted at the computer screen, resigning himself to his current fate, and began to read.

_My Dearest Husband,_

_I hope this email finds you well. Actually, I hope this email finds you at all, since every message I send to your own email comes back with an error message! I am concerned because I have not heard from you still, but the memory of your gorgeous smile keeps me hopeful!_

_Ah, Yuuri. I had hoped when I married you that I would be able to see your smile more often from that day. I don’t have the words to describe how your wonderful smile made me feel, but here are a few I think are fitting: overjoyed, weightless, invincible, alive! I hope that you are smiling as you read this, darling, because it’s the only thing the world needs more of._

Yuuri sighed and pushed up his glasses to rub at his eyes. At least this time it didn’t seem like the stranger would be delving into any R-rated topics, which was really all he could hope for at this point. Phichit and Sara were completely focused on the message, and Phichit was mouthing along with the words as he read. Yuuri sighed again, slightly more dramatically, and Phichit glanced away from the screen to look at him.

“What’s wrong, Yuuri? I know you’re self-conscious, but you should be happy you found someone to worship your…assets so thoroughly!”

Yuuri frowned at his choice of words. “I guess I don’t mind that some stranger liked my smile, but I don’t think it really deserves a whole paragraph…” Yuuri fiddled with his ring again anxiously. The spin of the band soothed him slightly in its repetition, and he felt his stomach settle a bit.

“Uh, Yuuri, I don’t think your smile is the asset Phichit is referring to. Although it is a very nice smile!” Sara hastily added. “I really think you should keep reading, it only gets better from there.”

_I can hardly believe that there is anything on earth better than your smile, but somehow you outdid yourself! Sometimes I think I dreamed you up, that there’s no way any person on the planet could have as great an ass as you –_

Yuuri choked and began to cough violently as Phichit pounded him on the back. “Knew you’d get there sometime,” Phichit muttered gleefully.

_“—as great an ass as you, but I know that even my incredible imagination could never had created a butt like yours. All of your body, really Yuuri, you look like a god, carved from marble. My hands still tingle at the memory of feeling your strong back underneath my palm, and the way your fingers slotted between mine. I have not heard music the same way since I met you. Nothing will ever compare to the way we connect, our bodies moving to make music together!_

_I miss you terribly, love. I hope that you will reconsider your silence, but I am beginning to suspect my affections may not be as reciprocated as I once believed they were. I must admit I don’t understand why you married me if you only meant to leave me, but I will accept your change of heart if this is what you truly want. All I ask is that you give me a chance to hear from you, and if you really want me to leave you alone, dear Yuuri, I will let you go forever. All you ever had to do was ask._

_Best wishes,_

_Your Husband XX_

Yuuri exhaled shakily as he finished the message. “He’s…he’s finally giving me a way out of this mess. He’ll stop the messages if I just ask him to…” he mumbled. “Good. That’s good. It’s good, right? I should have realized I could just ask him to stop a long time ago.” He had wanted an end to this humiliation for months, so why did he feel so uncertain once he was presented with the option? This should have solved everything. He sat in silence for a moment longer, zoning out at this realization while trying to place the strange sinking sensation in his stomach before glancing away. His nerves were returning quickly, but it felt like they came from a different direction this time.

Phichit and Sara were both staring at him, Sara with the stirrings of pity behind her eyes, and Phichit with outright curiosity sparking into amusement.

“Yuuri, I knew it! I knew you secretly liked this guy! Come on, can’t you admit it even to yourself yet? He’s clearly head over heels for you, and he’s obviously willing to be respectful of you if he’s willing to give you up!” Phichit was growing more and more excited by the moment, clasping his hands together gleefully, and Yuuri could see scenarios flitting through his mind faster than he could express them with words.

“Phichit, wait! I don’t even know how this guy knows me. Also, isn’t it a little bit strange that even though he’s acting so sweet and kind he’s still claiming to be my husband? Clearly he’s not the most stable of people. And what about these stories he comes up with? For all we know, he could be some stalker, getting his kicks from emailing me descriptions of his wild fantasy world he cooked up for us. Maybe he just wants me to reply to him so that he can have confirmation that he established contact with me!” Yuuri knew he was working himself into a panic now but he was spiraling and couldn’t stop the stream of bad thoughts once they had started. He felt his breathing start to become erratic as the prick of tears started to form in his eyes. “A-and what if he did actually meet me somewhere and I have no memory of it? I’m not at all like the person he describes in the stories, what if he really believes it was me, he’d be so disappointed if he actually knew what I was like, and -hic- he’d probably think I’m such a fraud and I have just -hic- been stringing him along all these months without telling him he’s been sending messages to someone who -hic- really doesn’t even exist and—”

Phichit began to rub soothing circles on Yuuri’s back at the onslaught of a panic attack. Yuuri cut himself off and tried to focus on his breathing. It would do him no good to get so worked up before he even started his day, especially over something so silly. All he had to do was tell the man to stop. The time for panicking like a child had come and gone, and now there was only one path left for him. He stood abruptly.

“Thank you for showing me the email, Sara. Feel free to delete it. Don’t worry, you won’t have to suffer through any more of them now. Have a nice day.”

Yuuri swung the door open and marched out of the office. He made it halfway down the hallway before Phichit caught up with him, falling into stride next to Yuuri with a soft murmur of encouragement.

“Look, I know this is scary, Yuuri, and I know at first your ‘husband’ seemed like a wacko, but a lot of his emails have been really very sweet! He clearly cares about you a lot, and from the way he describes you it’s clear he at least saw you in person sometime. I don’t know why he’s pretending to have married you, but I don’t really get the sense that he’s catfishing you. You know I have a sixth sense about these things, don’t deny it! It’s your choice what you want to do about this, but I think you should give him a chance to tell you how he knows you at least before you go asking him to never contact you ever again. I get that it’s a big leap of faith, but…I don’t know, Yuuri, I just really feel like talking to him would be worth it.” Phichit smiled softly at Yuuri as he turned to head to his own department. “Look, just wait until the end of the day to make your decision, at least. We can go out for dinner after work tonight, yeah?”

Yuuri smiled gratefully and nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Phichit.”

He made his way back to his own office and settled in for the day. Hopefully reinserting himself into his routine would calm him down a bit, and he had some time to himself before he had to meet with anyone. As a member of the Dance Medicine department at RID, his workday typically began at seven am but between the email and his subsequent meltdown it was nearly eight, and the amount of work to catch up on was a good distraction from his worries. Yuuri’s first appointment for the day wasn’t until nine, so he began to tackle his case load before preparing himself with information on his new patient.

By the time nine am rolled around, he had caught up on half of his cases and was fully in the right mindset to meet the new dancer he would be working with. From his profile, the young man was gifted at ballet and pointe work, and had risen to notoriety at a young age, which was apparently why he was already seeking out the services provided by Yuuri as a physical therapist. With his own background in ballet, Yuuri was often sought after by ballerinas to help them keep their bodies from breaking down irreparably; he had danced too often and trained too hard for many years, resulting in a torn ACL that ended his brief and unremarkable career. Yuuri took his solace in making sure the rising talent didn’t suffer from the same mistakes he had.

He gathered his supplies for the meeting and made his way to the studio where they held their equipment and eased inside. His patient had not arrived yet, so Yuuri took the free time to do a few of his own stretches in the open space. It wasn’t long before he heard a soft knock at the entrance, and he turned to greet the newcomer, who was being ushered by Yuuri’s boss, Celestino Cialdini.

“Ciao ciao, Yuuri!” Celestino greeted cheerfully, “Come, meet your newest patient! I think you’ll find you have more in common than you ever expected. Let me introduce you to the American Ballet Theater’s very own – Yuri Plisetsky!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow Yuuri you're wearing a ring and now you have someone claiming to be your husband I wonder if those two things are connected...nah probably not though


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A decision is made

Yuri Plisetsky was not like any ballet dancer Yuuri had ever worked with. He was a ball of fire and angst, determined to ignore every word of good advice Yuuri doled out at him, preferring instead to claim that he had no need of Yuuri’s help and that he was only here because his guardian had insisted upon it. He refused to put his phone down, demanded to listen to loud, screeching music, and complained constantly about what a waste of his time this was becoming. Whoever his guardian was, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a throb of sympathy for the poor person. Yuri was no easy charge. Even after one session he felt completely wrung out by the experience, having been insulted, berated, and ‘accidentally’ kicked several times. Yuuri knew better than to believe that such a skilled athlete could have ever been so unaware of their own body.

He was exhausted by the early meeting and by the time he met with Phichit for lunch he had completely forgotten about the excitement of the morning. Phichit, it seemed, had not.

“Yuuri! Yuuri! Come sit, I was just about to come drag you out of your office!” Phichit waved him over enthusiastically. “Okay, I know I said you need to wait until the end of the day to make any decisions on your secret admirer, and I think you should stand by that rule if you’re still considering asking him to stop, but –”

“Shh, Phichit, not now” Yuuri groaned, pawing his hand over Phichit’s babbling mouth. “Just—just – just give me a minute to eat, okay? I just need a minute…” He sighed in gratitude at Phichit’s reluctant silence and took a giant bite out of his sandwich. Phichit at least had the restraint to wait until Yuuri’s mouth was too full of food to object before continuing on with his rant.

“Well here’s what I was thinking, Yuuri! I think you should email him back! As yourself, of course. Don’t try to pretend to be anyone else. Like I said, I really don’t get why he thinks you would behave in a way that’s so different from who you really are, but based on the way he worships your body, he’s definitely met the real you! So I think you should email him, explain to him that you are very flattered,” Yuuri rolled his eyes and Phichit rolled his back just as dramatically, “VERY flattered but you aren’t really like that, but you’d still like to get to know him if he’d like to! He really seems to have a thing for you Yuuri!”

Yuuri swallowed his bite and stared down at the table. “…and what do I say about the fact that he thinks we are married, Phichit?” he asked quietly. “I don’t understand it. Why would he say something like that? What if he does have a real husband out there, someone who looks like me or something, and I just…end up ruining his life by not being the person he expects me to be?” _I know I’m not the person he expects me to be. If I talk to him, if he finds out what I’m really like, I’ll just be a disappointment. He’s got such a lovely idea of the person I am, maybe I just want to let him carry on thinking of me in that way._ Yuuri didn’t want to admit it out loud, but the idea of slowly seeing the admiration from his mystery man fade as he realized what Yuuri was really like was a very large part of why he had yet to establish contact.

“First of all, Yuuri, you could never ruin anyone’s life by being yourself. Everyone you meet thinks you’re wonderful, you have to at least be somewhat aware of that!” Phichit stared at Yuuri hard as he said this as though he could sense what Yuuri was thinking. “Besides, he would have no excuse to blame you. He’s the one that contacted you, he’s the one who was so insistent about it after you explained he was wrong the first time, and he’s the one who’s been continuing to pursue you even once you blocked him out! I’ll admit the marriage thing is really weird, but I have a theory that seemed kind of crazy at first but I’m starting to think might be the answer. It’s common internet slang to call someone your ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ when you have a crush on someone! It’s usually in reference to celebrities so I didn’t put it together with this scenario, but you have to admit it makes a little bit of sense. Maybe he just has a really big crush on you and never grew out of the slang! Or maybe he’s just calling you husband so that when you meet and fall in love for real he’ll already be used to using that term. Wouldn’t that be cute??” Phichit winked at Yuuri. “Look, all I’m saying is he hasn’t said anything outright stalkerish or crazy. He doesn’t talk about anything other than this one apparent night you shared, and he doesn’t act like he’s just inserting you into some weird fantasies he has. It’s not like he’s talking about skinning you in your sleep or anything!”

Yuuri shuddered at that thought. “Okay, I’ll give you that much. I’m still going to wait until the end of the day to make any decisions, but I appreciate the pep talk, Phichit. It’s…just a lot to think about. I need a little more time.”

“That’s fine, Yuuri. I understand. I do really hope you think about it, though! If your admirer is this head over heels for you already just imagine how excited he would be to get to know you more!” Phichit stood up and patted Yuuri on the shoulder. “I have to get back to work now, but I’ll stop by your office to pick you up at the end of the day. We’re still on for dinner, right?”

“Right,” Yuuri smiled at his friend as he walked away. _Assuming I make it through the next session with Yuri Plisetsky, first._ He frowned slightly, thinking of the young man’s strange behavior from the morning before resigning himself to his fate and heading towards the studio.

Yuri seemed to be in much of the same mood as the morning session, swinging seamlessly from arrogantly aloof to condescending and derogatory. He even spent the full first 15 minutes fiddling around on his phone with no regard for Yuuri, claiming he was having a conversation with his guardian that for some reason just couldn’t wait. Yuuri let this slide initially but eventually became impatient and insisted firmly that Yuri begin to focus on their work.

“Yeah, yeah, I know this stuff already. Do you really think a pig like you has anything to teach me? I know my body well enough, I’m perfectly fine to be dancing right now. All that’s happening right now is that I’m missing out on valuable rehearsal time. At this rate I’m going to be behind everyone in the theater, and then how will I make Prima, hmm? I won’t!” Yuri growled out. He bared his teeth in a show that was supposed to be threatening but Yuuri mostly found amusing. “Stupid Victor, making me do this. He owes me a million favors after everything I do for him.”

Yuuri smiled at him with the last vestiges of patience he could summon. “You think you’re completely fine? Okay, let’s prove it. Show me your current routine. We should have enough space here, so I want to see it flawlessly. If you can get through the whole thing without the hip injury I know you’re trying to hide from me flaring up, I’ll let you be done for the day. You can play around on your phone or do whatever you like for the rest of our session time. How does that deal sound to you?”

Yuri gaped at him. “I don’t have a hip problem, you stupid pig! And I’ll prove it to you right now, let’s go!” Yuri shooed Yuuri towards the mirrored wall of the room. “I’ve got the music right here. Get ready to have your mind blown!”

Yuuri sank down with his back to the mirror, arranging himself cross-legged on the floor. He caught the phone Yuri tossed at him and Yuuri hit play on the music, letting the gentle sound of a delicate voice like bells set the scene for the solo dance. Yuuri watched closely, marking any signs of a slight stumble or twinge in the young dancer’s steps. Yuri spun and leapt gracefully across the room but he couldn’t completely mask the slight wobble in his landings. He was slightly favoring one leg over the other, and from his increasingly irritated expression he knew that he wasn’t able to fake things as well as he had hoped. Yuuri smirked slightly and grabbed the phone to stop the music; there was no point in forcing Yuri to continue when they both knew he was in pain. He hit the pause button, noticing a notification that signified twelve new messages from ‘Victor’, whom Yuri had explained was his guardian. Yuuri’s eyes widened and he felt like he suddenly understood why Yuri was on his phone so constantly. If his guardian demanded incessant updates like that it certainly explained some of his irritated mannerisms.

“Alright, Yuri, that’s enough,” Yuuri announced. “I know you are no idiot, you know as well as I do that you shouldn’t be on a full rehearsal schedule with your hip still in the condition it’s in. It would only get worse from here, and you would likely end up with your career cut short. If you just listen to the advice I give you there should be many years ahead of you as a Prima. I can’t promise that you’ll be able to become Prima this season, but I can promise that you’ll be able to dance long enough to make it there one day.”

Yuri made a face like Yuuri had just shoved a half a lemon into his mouth but complied with the request to stop. He sank down against the mirrored wall next to Yuuri, muttering furiously, before he jabbed his hand out to recover his cell and immediately began texting faster than Yuuri would have believed was possible if he wasn’t friends with Phichit.

“You know, Yuri, your dancing really was quite beautiful. I can see why you’re in the running to become Prima—”

“Not _in_ the running, moron, I _am_ the running!” Yuri cut him off with a snarl, not even glancing up from his phone. “The current Prima doesn’t have much time left, and Madame Lilia has had her eye on me since before I could walk.” Yuri stopped texting feverishly and let his eyes drift from the screen towards the floor, his whole demeanor going a bit softer. “Once Victor got custody of me she asked if he would let me train under her. Victor always said it was entirely up to me, but I never wanted to be a burden on him and she ran a boarding school with her dance company. I would have joined even if I didn’t want to. I’m not an idiot, Victor had his own life to live, he didn’t need to be looking after some little kid when he was still so young. Then instead of the dorms stupid Yakov made me live with him while I trained. They think I didn’t know that I was technically too young to stay in the dorms and he was just helping to take the responsibility off the other two, but I knew. So I just practiced as much as I could so that I wouldn’t be around his house too much. They should be lucky that it turned out I like it.”

Yuuri watched the younger boy thoughtfully, a rush of emotion pulsing through his chest. No wonder Yuri felt like he had to push himself to the breaking point.

“Anyways, I’m going to be the best dancer in the world someday soon. I’ve already broken all kinds of records, you know,” Yuri was apparently over his moment of reflection and had swung around back into arrogance. _Teenagers,_ Yuuri thought. “I’ll be the youngest Prima in the world once Mila retires for good. And if you would just let me go back to training like I know I can, my legacy will be even harder to beat! Besides, it’s not like I’m really here for physical therapy—” Yuri cut himself off looking slightly guilty.

Yuuri glanced at him sharply. “What do you mean by that? What would you be here for if not your hip injury?”

Yuri looked positively murderous. He stood abruptly and stalked towards the door.

“Yuri, you have to know that your hip needs rehabilitation. If you don’t get help now, you have two years left, at best, before it takes you out of commission for good. Please, listen to me, for your own sake. I can help you. This is the kind of mistake that can haunt a person for the rest of their lives!” Yuuri implored him. He knew first-hand what it was like to ignore a subtle twinge until it was far too late. His own ballet instructor, Minako-sensei, had always warned him to listen to his body, but he had been a stubborn child, refusing to stop his rehearsals until he had worn himself out entirely too much to ever be able to dance professionally again. It was one of Yuuri’s biggest regrets in life, and after seeing how much potential Yuri had he was loath to let the boy repeat his own mistakes.

Yuri had paused by the doorway, staring back at Yuuri. “Alright,” he said softly, “I’ll come back. I’m leaving today, because Victor is being annoying as fuck all, but I’ll come back next week. It’s not like I have a choice in the matter anymore.”

Yuuri smiled and waved goodbye to the ill-tempered child. Even though he was not the most polite of company, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel a soft spot for him. _It must have been hard to feel like a burden to everyone at such a young age. I can’t imagine having to carry my own weight like that. He must feel so lonely, too. At least it sounds like he has good people looking out for him, if there were so many people willing to give him a place to call home._ Yuuri frowned as he gathered up his notes from the session, distractedly making his way back to his office. _I wonder why he said he wasn’t here for physical therapy. It doesn’t seem like he’s doing any of this by choice, but it’s also very clear that he needs it. Someone clearly sent him here for some reason, and it’s a good thing they did. If his hip isn’t given a chance to heal, he’ll ruin himself the way I did!_

Yuuri unlocked his office and flicked on the lights with a sigh before bustling over to start the electric kettle he kept for such occasions. Whenever he thought about how recklessly he had danced himself into destruction almost nothing could improve his mood, but sometimes the soothing warmth of tea would help bring him around. He typed up his case notes as he sipped at the cup of genmaicha, reviewing Yuri’s information before opening up the folder for tomorrow’s patient to refresh them in his memory.

By the time his tea was gone it was just past four pm. He was startled into alertness by Phichit’s sharp rap on the door and his enthusiastic greeting.

“Yuuri! It’s officially the end of the day, please tell me you’ve made up your mind, it’s all I’ve been thinking about all day and I hardly got any work done so you had better be ready to write your man a love letter!” Phichit exclaimed, bursting into Yuuri’s office and slamming the door shut behind him. At Yuuri’s quizzical look he explained, “Not that I’d mind, but I didn’t really think you’d want eavesdroppers on this conversation, right? No one else has to know that you’re finally writing back to your secret admirer!”

Yuuri smiled at Phichit gratefully and motioned for him to sit down. “I’m sorry, Phichit, my day really got away from me and I haven’t given it as much thought as I hoped to. It’s – it’s a big decision for me and I don’t want to make the wrong choice!”

Phichit smiled softly back and him and inclined his head. “I thought I smelled green tea when I came in here. Rough therapy session?”

“Yeah. Kid reminds me of myself back in the day. You know how it is. He said he’ll come back, but I know how many times I said that to people with no intention of ever following through. Lucky for him it seems like a lot of people are keeping an eye on him, so hopefully someone will make sure he gets the treatment he needs.”

Phichit nodded along. “I know how much this kind of thing bothers you. If you don’t want to deal with the email yet, I understand. Let’s still go to dinner though, I worked up a craving for burgers and I’m not going to take no for an answer!” He grabbed Yuuri’s hand and dragged him out of the office. “Don’t think I’m completely letting you off the hook, though. You’re going to have to make up your mind on your mystery man sooner or later!” he laughed.

Yuuri allowed a small smile to sweep over his features as he followed his best friend into the night, and promised himself that he would spend the rest of the night doing nothing but contemplating his decision.

-

Yuuri did not spend the rest of the night contemplating his decision.

He and Phichit had gone to dinner to satisfy Phichit’s craving for burgers, and since nothing went with burgers like beer they had agreed to split a pitcher over dinner, in the sense that Phichit had ordered a pitcher of beer and then challenged Yuuri to see who could drink more of it faster. Never one to back down from a challenge that would likely make him look like an idiot, Yuuri agreed, and before either of them knew it they had wound up half in the bag and barhopping their way back to their shared apartment.

Both boys woke up Tuesday morning feeling a bit worse for wear and running slightly behind, so they scrambled over each other in an attempt to get to work on time. By the time Yuuri and Phichit raced through the doors it was just past seven and they rushed through their greetings to Emil with a hurried wave rather than the typical chatter. Emil waved back but fortunately seemed to sense that they were in a rush, letting them bustle along.

The sense of urgency brought on by a harried morning never fully left Yuuri, and he spent the entire day in an anxious haze, feeling slightly fuzzy and unable to focus on conversation. Sessions with his patients flashed before his eyes and next thing he knew the work day had ended; he had fiddled with his ring so much from stress that he was starting to worry the friction would saw his finger clean off. Phichit, it seemed, had had a similarly trying day and was content to collapse on the couch the second they arrived home. Yuuri found his last dregs of energy in order to make a fast dinner for them both, leaving a note for Phichit to find leftovers in the fridge and then dragging his own weary body to his bedroom. As he shut his eyes, Yuuri vowed he would deal with his email problem first thing in the morning this time.

-

Yuuri did not deal with his email problem first thing in the morning.

In fact, Yuuri managed to let the rest of the week slip by, running himself ragged with a new patient list that had everyone in the office scrambling to keep up. He was so busy he couldn’t find time to meet with Phichit for lunch, and his roommate admitted that he hadn’t been able to make it to the cafeteria anyways due to his own heavy workload. By the time the weekend arrived, Yuuri and Phichit as well as all of their coworkers were fully exhausted, and the group that trudged out of the office Friday evening was much less lively than the cheerful employees who had been so enthusiastic Monday morning.

“Yuuri, come on,” Phichit began as soon as he and Yuuri arrived home, “It’s been a full week now. It’s the weekend. There’s no excuse anymore!”

Yuuri smiled softly. It was clear Phichit had been holding himself back on the commute with their coworkers, and for that he was eternally grateful. Now, however, it seemed that Phichit was determined to have his say.

“I think you should start with a pros and cons list, and after you complete that I’ll look it over to revise how accurately you’ve ranked everything. Then we can assign numeric values to each item in terms of how pro-y or con-y they are, add them up, and see where you stand! Nothing like math to solve a problem of the heart!” Phichit exclaimed cheerfully.

“Since when do math and numbers factor into relationship decisions?” Yuuri wondered with a smirk. He had a feeling he already knew the answer, and if he was going to have to spend the weekend being teased relentlessly over his secret admirer he might as well get as much of his own teasing in while he could.

“…Seung-gil might have given me some advice on the matter,” Phichit admitted cautiously. “But that doesn’t matter right now, Yuuri, nice try! What does matter is your mystery man and I expect frequent progress reports from you as you try to make up your mind. You have until Monday morning to make a final decision, do you hear me? Final!” Phichit shouted at Yuuri’s retreating figure.

Yuuri holed himself in his room for the rest of the weekend, occasionally breaking for snacks and a few stress-relieving rounds of video games. He and Phichit conferred a few times over the risks and rewards of putting himself out there, and after nearly 48 hours Yuuri felt like he had made up his mind; at the very least he was tired of dealing with the subject and was ready to make a choice if only to avoid having to think about making a choice anymore. He was going to do it. He was going to email a stranger and ask if they could get to know each other.

Thinking about following through on the action made Yuuri feel a bit queasy, so after he broke the news to Phichit he claimed a headache in order to escape to bed early. Sunday night was less than restful; his sleep fitful was filled with confusing dreams that featured bright, fast paced music and flashes of silver and gold, and a feeling of warmth that he somehow felt had been missing from his life.

Yuuri woke on Monday morning feeling less than well rested but surprisingly relaxed about his circumstance. He had slept on his decision and although he was certain he would regret it in one way or another, he would finally be taking a stand. “Any action is better than nothing at this point, Yuuri, really,” Phichit had encouraged as they rode the subway into the city. “And I have to say, it’s not what I expected you to do in the end but I’m so proud that you’re doing it!”

They marched together through the front doors of RID together, the tandem step and his own pressing trepidation making Yuuri feel as though he were heading into battle. The second they set foot past the doors, Emil flagged them down cheerfully.

 _How is he always so bright in the mornings?_ Yuuri wondered. _Where does he get his unnatural life source from?_ Stifling a yawn, Yuuri followed Phichit over to make their greetings.

“Phichit, Yuuri, good morning!” Emil chirped. “I hope you both had a great weekend! Yuuri, I know it’s early and I’m sorry because you’ll probably want to kill me from this news, but you already have a patient here! He said he saw you last week but hadn’t made an official appointment to come back, so he wanted to be early to make sure he got some time in with you, I guess? He said his name was Yuri Plisetsky.”

“I do know him, Emil, thanks…” Yuuri was torn between relief that Yuri had returned for another session and horror at the fact that he would now be expected to act like a professional when all he wanted to do was take a nap in his quiet, dark office. Phichit smirked at Yuuri as though sensing his mild distress while Yuuri held in another smothered yawn. He glared when it triggered his own yawn.

“The kid was really kind of rude. Are you sure you’re okay seeing him this early?” Emil carried on, clearly not sensing any urgency for the patient waiting for Yuuri. “Although I guess I can see why you’d put up with him if his dad is so hot. He was really nice, though, it’s weird that his kid got all that attitude. Maybe it’s from his mom?”

“…His dad?” Yuuri asked. He was fairly positive Yuri didn’t have any blood relatives to speak of.

“…hot dad?” Phichit said over his voice. “What’s this about a hot dad, now Emil?”

Emil laughed. Yuuri decided that it was officially too disgustingly early for anyone to be as bright and cheerful as Emil was behaving, regardless of how hot any passing dads may be. Faced with a long morning of dealing with Yuri’s memorable behavior did not improve Yuuri’s mood either, and he squinted as he struggled to pay attention to the rest of what Emil was saying.

“Yeah, you know, the kid’s hot dad. Said his name was Victor. You’ve got to ask him what kind of moisturizer he uses, because he’s got grey hair and a teenage son but he looks like he’s still in his 20s!”

“Oh!” Yuuri sighed, understanding clicking into place. “That’s not his dad, Emil, that’s his guardian.”

“Still hot apparently,” Phichit muttered under his breath.

Yuuri shot him a quick look of disapproval before waving goodbye and making his way towards the studio. Even in his half-asleep state he was happy that Yuri had come back for another session. Yuuri was grateful he had brought his guardian, too, although he had a sneaking suspicion that Yuri had dragged Victor along to try to prove a point about not needing physical therapy. _Good luck with that pipe dream, kid._

Yuuri let out one more yawn as he reached the studio and opened the opened the door.

“Good morning, Yuri, it’s good to see you back—”

“Yuuuuuri!!!!” A loud voice carried over his own. “Yuuri it’s been so long since I’ve seen you and you’re finally here! This is officially the second-best day of my life!”

Yuuri looked up in confusion and realized in less than half a second that Emil had seriously undersold this man. Hot did not begin to cover it. This man should not be degraded by a phrase so common as ‘hot’. There weren’t…there just weren’t words. _Am I still dreaming???_ Yuuri wondered in some faraway part of his hind brain while the rest of his faculties scrambled to comprehend the sight before him.

 _So this is Victor,_ Yuuri concluded belatedly. Through a haze, he noticed that Victor was still chattering on about how excited he was to meet Yuuri, _again_ apparently, and Yuri had begun turning more and more red throughout the onslaught.

“Okay, old man, enough!” Yuri exclaimed sharply. “Explain why you are here and then leave us alone! I still have a physical therapy session I’m here for, or had you forgotten already?”

Victor did not look even remotely chastised. He smiled at Yuri placatingly before reaching out to Yuuri. “But of course he knows why I am here!” Victor stated cheerfully. His smile dimmed with uncertainty as Yuuri stepped delicately out of reach but he carried on undeterred. Renewing his smile to full wattage, Victor held up his right hand to show off a shining golden ring that looked exactly like…

“Yuuri, I’m your husband!”


	3. Chapter 3

Yuuri couldn’t move.

He didn’t know how much time had passed since Victor had made his announcement; he was sure that only seconds had passed and yet it also felt as though Yuuri’s whole world had been flipped upside down and inside out. A change like that had to take a while, right? Probably hours. Possibly a whole lifetime, in fact. Maybe he was dead. Maybe he was having a crazy fever dream. That would explain why this ridiculously handsome stranger was claiming they were married! Yes, that had to be it. He had been worrying about replying to those ridiculous emails all weekend and now his brain had gone off the rails. It also explained how this man could be so inhumanly beautiful; Yuuri had to give a shout out to his overactive imagination for creating someone like this. There was a vague feeling he had seen someone who looked a bit like him before, however. Maybe on T.V.? Yuuri only wished his subconscious had given him the attractive man in a slightly less unbelievable circumstance, but at least he knew for sure now that it was a dream. Yuuri let out a shaky sigh of relief at this conclusion, pinched himself hard in the arm, and let out a small shriek when he realized how much it actually hurt.

“I think you broke him,” Yuri muttered at Victor. “Look at him, he’s barely functioning. I should have known I wouldn’t get any physical therapy time if I brought you along. This is pointless and disgusting, I’m going to go make an actual appointment with the secretary,” announced haughtily. “Figure your shit out, Victor. And you, pig, get it together! Ugh.” Yuri gave them each a pointed glare as he stormed out of the room.

Yuuri stared after him in a daze until Yuri had completely vacated the room. He turned back to Victor and immediately felt the urge to pinch himself again, but decided that his arm was still stinging enough to serve as proof that this was really happening. Victor was staring at him with such an open look of hopefulness and longing on his face that Yuuri almost felt embarrassed for him. It was past time to clear the air on this ‘husband’ misunderstanding.

“Um. Hi,” Yuuri began carefully. “I’m – I’m Yuuri. Katsuki Yuuri. I’m your Yuri’s physical therapist?” He held out his hand for Victor to shake, trying to corral the other man into some semblance of a normal introduction.

Victor stared pointedly at the gold ring encircling his finger before reaching out cautiously and accepting the handshake. “Victor Nikiforov. But I know who you are, Yuuri. I could never forget you, even if you weren’t my husband. Which you definitely are, since you’ve got that ring on your finger,” Victor said with a slight frown. “It’s a perfect match to mine. I have to admit, I was worried you had changed your mind about marrying me when you didn’t reply to any of my emails, but when Yuri sent me a picture of you still wearing your ring I knew there must have been some kind of miscommunication. Did you think I had forgotten about you, Yuuri? I could never. I tried to contact you, I swear,” Victor implored. The frown never left his face, but something soft was sparkling in his eyes. “I don’t know where my messages have been going if not to you, but no matter. The point is, Yuuri, I’m here for you now, and we can finally begin our life together like we meant to!”

He gave a tentative smile as he finished his introduction and brought Yuuri’s hand to his lips so he could kiss the ring. Yuuri retracted his hand carefully. He could feel a blush working its way from the bottom of his chest up to the tips of his ears already, and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to force its way straight out of his body and onto the floor at Victor’s feet. He had to explain the misunderstanding to Victor before things got more out of hand than they already were.

“I got your emails, it’s not that but…look, Victor, I’m really sorry, but I got this ring for myself in Las Vegas,” Yuuri began, pausing with a slight frown as Victor began nodding along enthusiastically.

“With me, yes! I haven’t forgotten, Yuuri, if that’s what you thought!” Victor said cheerfully.

“No, it’s not that either…” Yuuri paused, feeling less and less certain of himself by the second. He was starting to feel a little queasy, like he could almost remember something that was just out of his grasp. Yuuri pushed the feeling aside and carried on, “I got it alone. For myself. From a street vendor in Vegas. I was there for an IADMS conference back in December and I must have seen it at one of the stalls there, I guess, and I bought it because I liked it. It’s just an accessory I wear, it’s not a wedding band or anything. That’s why I wear it on the right hand.” As he explained the sense of doubt returned. That wasn’t exactly right, was it? It was the reason he had given Phichit when he’d asked about it, but saying it now felt wrong.

Victor was staring at him, shaking his head slightly. “That’s not right, Yuuri. What are you talking about? I told you when you proposed that it’s a Russian tradition to wear them on the right hand, and since I’m Russian you insisted we had to do the same. I was worried people in America wouldn’t understand that they were wedding rings but you were adamant so I agreed!”

“When I proposed…?” Yuuri mumbled. As Victor continued Yuuri felt the sensation of puzzle pieces fitting into place, but it was like he was putting the puzzle together without knowing what the picture would look like when he was done.

“Meeting you at the conference and marrying you was the happiest day of my life, Yuuri. I’ve never known someone who makes me feel as alive as you do. You swept me off my feet at the banquet and I knew without a doubt that I wouldn’t regret marrying you. I know we were meant to be together, Yuuri, and I know you felt it too…” Victor trailed off, looking slightly confused at Yuuri’s hesitance.

“I’m really sorry, Victor, but I didn't meet you at the banquet last year,” Yuuri said softly. He hated the crushed look that was slowly overtaking Victor’s face, but he had to make sure he was clear. “After I humiliated myself by breaking down in tears during my presentation Celestino forced me to make an appearance, but I went back to my room as soon as I could." Yuuri shuddered at the memory. His found out his dog had died the day he was set to present, setting him off on an uncontrollable meltdown. "I didn't talk to anyone there, especially not you. After the banquet I went back to hide in my room for the rest of the night.” He later learned that he had also helped himself heavily to the mini-bar and left his room again at some point, but Victor didn't need to know about that. Yuuri was lucky that Celestino had been amused rather than annoyed when they had been billed for the expensive mini bottles of alcohol.

“Yuuri…” Victor began cautiously, “you introduced yourself to me at the banquet. I know it was you. Do you not remember?” He looked slightly distressed at this possibility and brought his phone out to show Yuuri. “Look, I have pictures. I printed some physical copies of the ones from our wedding, but the pictures from the banquet are only on my phone,” he apologized.

Yuuri stared at the screen. It was definitely him, there was no denying it. Victor scrolled through the photographs and Yuuri watched with growing horror as the story of the night unfolded. He had apparently stumbled up to Victor, drunk off his ass, and coerced Victor into dancing with him in the middle of the banquet room. Yuuri gasped as the pictures went from bad to worse. The miniature verson of himself on the screen was steadily losing clothing as the pictures progressed, and with a sense of dread Yuuri caught the sight of a shiny pole appearing in the background.

 _He mentioned I pole danced in his emails, didn’t he? Oh, god, this is really happening. This really happened! Everything he said must be true. Oh, my god, I’m married. We’re married. I married him. He…married me?? No, no, no, I have to find a way out of this. This is too much. I can’t be married to him. Oh my god what am I going to do, my parents are going to kill me, I got MARRIED!!!!_ Yuuri felt a cold sweat forming on his brow and between his shoulder blades. He put a hand over the pictures Victor was enthusiastically showing off and shakily pushed the phone away from himself.

“Victor…I don’t remember this. Any of it. I mean, I remember you mentioning something about this in your emails, but I thought that was just a joke, or maybe you were thinking of the wrong person.” Better to get this over with now, Yuuri decided. He steeled his resolve. “I’m not usually…like that. I must have been blackout drunk. I don’t remember going to the banquet at all. I don’t remember dancing with you, and I definitely don’t remember marrying you. I’m sorry, but the real me, sober me, would never do anything I did that night. I’m not the person you thought I was when you married me. I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Humiliation coursed through him. Now that Victor was seeing Yuuri as his usual self he would surely be desperate to find a way out of their accidental marriage. As much as he wanted to turn and run away from dealing with this situation, Yuuri forced himself to press on. “I’ll sign whatever you need me to, okay? I don’t really know anything about the legality of a drunk wedding in Vegas but whatever you need for a divorce I’ll be happy to provide. We can get this over with and you can go back to your life and – ”

“Yuuri.” Victor was contemplating him with a small, soft smile. “I don’t want to annul our marriage, at least not yet. I’m sorry you don’t remember that night, but I do, and I’ve never felt more alive than I did when I was with you. You said it yourself, you don’t remember anything apparently, so beyond the frankly frightening connotations of your memory loss you certainly can’t say for sure whether you are actually like the version of you I met or not. I believe I made you happy too, Yuuri. At least give this a chance. I really think we could have something good between us.”

Yuuri stared at him in shock. “What are you saying? You want us to stay married? How would that even work?”

Victor let out a light laugh. “I would imagine it would work much the way any real married couple works, Yuuri. People get married and learn to live their lives together every day. Why should we be any different just because we didn’t get married in an entirely conventional fashion?” Victor paused and brought a finger to his lips. “It’s not like I came all this way to see you without a plan, of course! This may not be going exactly the way I had hoped, but that doesn’t mean anything has to change. I’ll stay with you while we get to know each other!” Yuuri began frantically shaking his head but Victor carried on, ignoring his protest. “I made arrangements to work remotely for my company in D.C. for a month as soon as I saw you wearing your ring, so we should take that time to see how things go. I always assumed we would just decide what to do after that once we got to know each other better. Besides, even if you weren’t here Yuri is training with his company in Detroit right now as well. It’s been a while since he and I got any quality time together and from what he tells me a certain therapist has suggested he take a bit of a break from dancing anyways. It’ll be nice to spend a little time with him while I’m here.”

Yuuri shifted on his feet uncomfortably. He spun his ring around his finger once, quickly, but instead of its usual calming effect it made him feel more anxious. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Victor. It’s great that you’re going to be able to see Yuri while you’re here, but staying with me probably won’t be very comfortable for you.”

“I can stay in a hotel if it would make you feel better, but the fact of the matter is I’m going to be here for a month and I would like for us to try out being married during that time. I’ve spent months wishing I could take you out on a date, Yuuri, and now that I’ve found you I plan to make the most of the time we have together.” He reached out and clasped Yuuri’s hand between his again. “I can’t imagine how strange this must sound to you, so I understand if you need a little time to think about it.”

Yuuri nodded slowly. “I – I can’t say I understand why you want to do this, but I guess it couldn’t hurt…” he said slowly. _It won’t hurt Victor, at least. This will probably actually be better for him. He can see for himself how much of a mess I am and he’ll go back to his life without wondering what might have been. He’ll get some closure on this and everything will go back to normal. What’s the worst that could happen?_ Yuuri scoffed internally; he didn’t need an answer to that question. He could sense it just from the small amount of time he had already spent in Victor’s presence. Yuuri was going to fall hard and fast and be left broken hearted and alone at the end of the month and it would be no one’s fault but his own, but if it meant Victor would be able to move on and live a normal life without pining over some fantasy version of Yuuri it would be worth it.

“Okay. We can try this,” Yuuri decided. “I think it’s absolutely crazy, but if it’s what you want I’m willing to play along.” He gave Victor a small smile. “My apartment is pretty small, and I live with my roommate Phichit but I know he won’t mind you staying with us.”

“Yuuuuri!!!” Victor squealed. He dropped Yuuri’s hand and enveloped him in the tightest hug Yuuri had ever felt. “You have no idea how happy this makes me! I know you’ll see things my way soon.” He pressed a short, firm kiss to Yuuri’s cheek and then released him. Victor took a step back and smiled brightly. “I have to pick up my belongings from the hotel I was at last night but I’ll meet you back here when I’m done, yes?”

Yuuri twitched. “Can you meet me after work actually? I’m won’t be able to get anything done if you’re waiting in my office, but if you show up around four you can come back to my apartment with Phichit and me.” Ah, what a time to remember they didn’t have a spare bedroom. Yuuri felt a stir of regret at his decision to allow Victor to stay with them, but he didn’t want to take it back now. He resigned himself to a month on the couch and glanced up at Victor to confirm the plan.

Victor was still smiling at him, but now the curl of his lips looked amused. “Yuuri! When I said I was going to work remotely for my company, I meant I was going to be working here! I already cleared everything with Celestino. I’ll have my own office to hold conference calls with my D.C. branch for the month that I’m here, so I’ll be right down the hall from you!”

Yuuri froze. “Work…here?! What? Why??”

“Of course I’ll work here! We’re in the same field, you know, and I want to be able to spend as much time with you as possible! Celestino was more than accommodating, although he did seem a bit confused about the situation which makes sense if you really don’t remember anything. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly capable of keeping things professional at work.” Victor winked. “Unless you’d like to take things that way!”

“Um, n-no! No, professional is fine. Professional is good!” Yuuri scrambled to get his thoughts back on track. “I’m just surprised, that’s all. But I guess I’ll see you back here when you’re done at the hotel, then…and maybe…if you’re done in time, and if you want to, maybe we can get lunch together? I can introduce you to Phichit and the others.” Better to get all the worst parts of this experience over with as quickly as possible. Phichit was going to lose his mind when he found out Yuuri’s secret admirer really was his husband and was planning on staying with them for the entire month. Yuuri wasn’t looking forward to that conversation but it had to happen sooner or later, and setting a lunchtime deadline was a good way for Yuuri to force himself into actually dealing with it.

“Perfect!” Victor clapped his hands together. “It’s settled then. I’ll pop back to the hotel, pack everything up, and meet you in the cafeteria in about an hour! I miss you already, Yuuuuuri!” He flew out of the room like the whirlwind he was, leaving Yuuri feeling stunned and wrong footed in his wake.

He made his way back to his office slowly before realizing he couldn’t go back quite yet; if he shut himself in his office he wouldn’t leave until someone came and dragged him out, and he had to face this conversation with Phichit before the rumor mill in their building took the matter out of his hands. It was only a matter of time before news got out. There were no secrets in their company. He knew Phichit would rather hear things from him than fourth hand via some random coworker, so he changed course for Phichit’s desk, letting his muscle memory take over to steer him there while he tried to make sense of the jumble of emotions warring in his head.

Part of him wanted to believe everything would turn out the way Victor seemed to think it was. Yuuri was a romantic deep down, and he couldn’t stop his heart from pounding at the thought of Victor actually falling in love with him. Even if he didn’t remember their wedding night, Victor’s emails had been full of an emotion so strong Yuuri didn’t want to name it, and he felt like he could trust that Victor’s intentions were genuine even if they had only met in person for half an hour. _It’s like Victor said_ , Yuuri realized. _It really does feel like there’s some undeniable bond between us._

On the other hand, it seemed insane to imagine Victor would want to stay with Yuuri once they spent time together. Yuuri hadn’t been himself in the memories Victor had of him; instead of suave and charming, the real Yuuri was an anxious mess and as soon as Victor realized that he would pack up and leave before there was even time for the ink to dry on their divorce papers.

He shook himself out of his morose train of thought as he reached Phichit’s desk. His best friend was chattering away with some coworker Yuuri only vaguely recognized, but he cut their conversation short the second he saw the expression on Yuuri’s face.

“Yuuri, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something!” Phichit cleared off a corner of his desk to make room for Yuuri to half-sit while they spoke.

Yuuri tried to make himself as comfortable as possible with the cramped space, knowing no amount of comfort would help him get through this discussion.

“Not quite a ghost, Phichit. I don’t want to say it’s worse than a ghost, but…I met my husband.”

Phichit’s face flashed through emotions so quickly Yuuri was worried his features would be permanently jumbled. “Your WHAT?? What do you mean you met your husband? When? Where? How do you know it was him? Wait, is he really your husband in the married sense? Start talking, Yuuri! I have questions! You have answers!”

Yuuri groaned and dragged a hand down his face, trying to remember everything Phichit had asked him. “I met him this morning. He’s…actually Yuri’s guardian, as it turns out. He showed me some pictures of us together at the banquet after the conference last winter. I guess I got blackout drunk, went down to the party, and I’m not too clear on the details yet but he may have mentioned in passing that I proposed to him? The timeline is shaky. But, Phichit, we have matching rings. There are pictures of us dancing together and we look happy. I believe him. I’m…married.”

Phichit’s eyes grew wider and wider as Yuuri answered, and by the time Yuuri was done talking he looked positively gleeful. “Yuuri, that’s amazing! Wait, so is your husband the same as the guy Emil called ‘too hot to handle?’ Also, I told you there was something funny about that ring when you came back from the conference, but you were to stubborn to listen! The quality is way too good for it to be a trinket.”

“Phichit. Can we please, please focus on the more pressing subject here? Yes, he’s the ‘hot’ guy, and his name is Victor. Since he’s my husband now you’ll have to learn to use his real name!” Yuuri tried to tease, but wavered too much on the delivery to receive anything but an unimpressed eyebrow raise from Phichit. “Anyways I think Emil was actually under-selling him. He’s so attractive, Phichit, it’s unreal. That doesn’t matter though! What matters is that I apparently married him and now he’s here! All of those emails were real, everything he said was true and now he’s here for a month to…get to know me, I guess?”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Phichit frowned. “Like, he’s actually here to be your husband?”

“That’s what he says, yeah. Um, I probably should have talked to you about it first, but he’s kind of…going to be staying with us? For the whole month? I can tell him no if you want me to, I wasn’t thinking when I agreed and I should have gotten your permission, I’m sorry!”

Phichit laughed and clapped his hands together. “Yuuri, don’t worry about it! That’s more than okay with me! This is so exciting, I can’t believe you’re married! Ah, I’ll have to get you a wedding present!” He returned Yuuri’s piercing glare and then smiled. “Look, obviously you’re freaking out about this, but I think it could be a good thing for you. Based on those emails, he really cares about you a lot! I can’t believe he showed up before you even got a chance to reply to them, after all that stress you put yourself through trying to decide, but this is great! When do I get to meet him??”

Yuuri buried his face in his hands. “Soon, actually. I told him we would meet him for lunch in the cafeteria…because he’s going to be working here. Celestino gave him an office so he can continue to do his work while he’s visiting, and I invited him to eat with us so I can introduce him to everyone. Ah, this day is going to be such a nightmare,” Yuuri moaned. “What am I going to tell them? What will everyone say??”

Phichit patted him on the shoulder lightly as he stood up. “The truth, preferably! And now Victor can fill in his side of the story for you. I can’t wait to see if he lives up to his emails, they’re so romantic.” Phichit feigned swooning and gave Yuuri a gentle nudge. “Come on, Yuuri, nothing’s going to change if you delay the inevitable! Lead me to your husband!”

Yuuri sighed dramatically, drawing an impressive eye roll out of Phichit, but he followed him down to the dining hall. The closer they got, the more it seemed like there was some kind of commotion happening. They saw several of their coworkers frantically whispering to each other in the hallways and Yuuri felt their eyes on his back as they passed them by. He tried to think of an explanation for the feeling other than the news of him and Victor, but no matter what he told himself he couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in his stomach and the nerves bubbling up in his throat. By the time he and Phichit reached the cafeteria he had broken out into a light sweat, and he could see Phichit vibrating from excitement. Regardless of whether it had to do with Yuuri and Victor, it was clear that something major was happening at lunch. Yuuri gave his ring one final, soothing twist before he stepped through the doorway.

The room was in chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Learn from Yuuri's mistakes, kids. Don't get blackout drunk in Vegas. It never ends well.


	4. Chapter 4

It was worse than Yuuri had feared.

In the middle of the dining room he could just barely see Victor, tall and gorgeous with his perfect silver hair. He was surrounded by what seemed to be every single employee RID had, as though he were a beacon of light and they were all moths drawn unwittingly into his warmth. Many of them seemed to be gleefully shouting to each other as they pressed closer to talk to him, and Yuuri noticed with confusion that a few were even clutching markers and pads of paper. He could see Victor’s mouth curved into a too-wide smile as he addressed the crowd around him but Yuuri couldn’t hear what he was saying over the din.

“Phichit, Yuuri, come on!” Sara shouted as she breezed past them, latching on and dragging them by their arms towards the swarm. “You’ll never get an autograph if you just wait around back here!”

“Um, an autograph?” Yuuri frowned. He glanced at Phichit’s face in the hopes that his friend would agree with him over how crazy everyone was suddenly acting, but his face had gone as wide and excited as the rest of the room’s.

“Yuuri, that’s Victor!”

“I know,” Yuuri said. “I told you he was here. You knew we were having lunch with him. What’s going on?”

“It’s Victor Nikiforov!” Phichit squealed, completely ignoring Yuuri’s question. “From the – wait, he’s the Victor you were talking about? Oh my god, Yuuri, Victor Nikiforov is your husband?”

Phichit looked like he was going to burst from information overload, and Yuuri saw with no small amount of dismay that he already had his phone out was uploading photos Yuuri hadn’t seen him take.

“Why are you saying his name like that? No, repeating it louder isn’t an answer, Phichit, and neither is gasping dramatically like that. Can you please just explain what’s happening right now?”

Phichit turned to answer him but Yuuri never got a chance to find out what he said. Victor had looked up from the crowd, directly at Yuuri, and all the external noise fell away like it was being heard from ten feet underwater. Victor’s smile went soft the second their eyes met, and Yuuri felt his heart give a heavy thud. He watched as Victor said something to the people still surrounding him, gaze never leaving Yuuri; Yuuri felt his own body move forward without conscious thought, drawn forward like a magnet, and miraculously the crowd dispersed enough to clear a path between himself and Victor.

“Victor,” Yuuri breathed. “Hi.”

He was peripherally aware that Phichit was still by his side, clinging to Yuuri’s arm, but his focus was wholly on Victor.

“Hi, Yuuri!” _Holy shit,_ Yuuri thought, staring up at him. _Were his eyes that blue before?_ “Wow, your coworkers are all so friendly, I think I’m going to really love working here!” _Focus on his words, Yuuri, not his lips._ “I’d love it anyways, since I’ll be working with you of course, but it’s nice to feel so welcomed!” Victor had moved into Yuuri’s space as he spoke, leaving just a hairs-breadth distance between their chests.

Phichit glanced back and forth between them several times before clearing his throat pointedly. “Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Nikiforov, I just – could I get a selfie with you?” He had his phone up and flashing before Yuuri could react, but Victor had somehow managed to rearrange his features into the same wide smile from before in time for the click of the shutter. He started typing immediately. “Thanks so much! Seung-gil didn’t believe me. I guess it’s not every day that your best friend marries an Olympic athlete!” Phichit shot Yuuri a pointed look that said they would be discussing this in depth later, but Yuuri was too focused on his sudden revelation to worry about that.

“I knew I’d seen you on T.V. somewhere! You…used to be a figure skater, didn’t you? I think I had a poster of you on my wall back home when I was a kid!” Yuuri slapped a hand over his mouth. Why had he said that??

Victor looked positively gleeful at this revelation. “Did you really? Wow, cute! Yes, I was a figure skater. I thought you knew, we talked about it at the banquet…oh. I guess you wouldn’t remember that.”

“Speaking of the banquet, I’d like to hear more about it!” Phichit chimed in. “By the way, I should probably introduce myself – I’m Phichit, Yuuri’s best friend, confidant, coworker, roommate, and emotional support team!”

“Oh, you’re the roommate! Well I guess you already know who I am; Victor Nikiforov, former Olympic gold medalist and Yuuri’s husband! I don’t do much skating these days, but it’s always nice to find out how many people still remember me. There’s a few of us medalists hanging around the offices in D.C. so there’s really no novelty to it. I think I missed the attention a little bit!” Victor admitted with a sheepish grin. “Anyways, I’m sure the excitement will wear off once everyone realizes I’m here for the long haul. But I’m getting away from myself. You want to know about the banquet?”

Yuuri glanced at the few stragglers still surrounding them, pretending not to be eavesdropping. “Um, can we maybe get our lunch and sit down first? People are staring…”

Victor snapped to attention. “Right, of course. Lead the way, Yuuri!”

They found an empty table on the edge of the cafeteria and Victor quickly rehashed the details of the banquet night, complete with photographic evidence; Phichit squealed and gasped at the appropriate intervals while Yuuri did his best not to melt into the tile floor. It didn’t take long to get the gist of what happened. After Yuuri had escaped from Celestino’s clutches at the banquet, he had gone back to his hotel room and drank his way through the mini bar before deciding the alcohol in his room was not enough. His drunken self had remembered there were bottles of champagne lined up in the banquet hall before he left so he made his way back, imbibed a few glasses of the sparkling wine, and as soon as the drunken haze had fully clouded his judgement he had wandered up to the most attractive person he could find and invited him to dance.

“You were so beautiful,” Victor admitted softly. “You were so full of life.”

They had danced together long enough that someone at the banquet had time to set up a pole, for some ungodly reason. Victor claimed it was because Yuuri had happily announced he was a better dancer than anyone in the room, no matter what style it was, and his coworker from the D.C. office took the challenge to heart. Yuuri knew it was because the universe liked to conspire against him. When Chris showed up for his turn at beating Yuuri in a dance-off Yuuri had at first refused to be removed from Victor’s arms, so Victor came up with a proposition: if Yuuri won, Victor would dance only with him for the rest of the night.

“And then you said ‘you’re already doing that, Victor. I want something else,’ and when I asked you what you wanted instead you said you wanted me to marry you! I was taken aback at first, but I agreed because I thought you were making a joke. Then you stripped down and climbed up the pole and suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore…”

Yuuri was twisting his ring around his finger so violently he was sure it would saw his finger right off. It was going to be a miracle if his face wasn’t permanently blush-stained after this discussion. “If you thought it was a joke, why did you go through with it?”

“I thought it was a joke at first, Yuuri. But after you won you came up to me with your tie around your head and your shirt just barely back on, and you threw your arms around me and asked me to marry you again! You were very insistent. Actually you were humping my leg, too, so I really never stood a chance. You don’t understand how incredibly magnetic you are, do you?”

Phichit grinned. “He really, really doesn’t. Oh my god, this is the best day of my life. I thought your emails must have been exaggerated, but now that I’ve met you I can understand exactly how this went down. No one can say no to that cute face, especially when he’s asking you to do something reckless and crazy!”

“Exactly,” Victor sighed. “I never stood a chance. Anyways, we decided to get married right then and there. It’s Vegas! Chris said he had passed a 24-hour chapel on the strip earlier that day, so Yuuri and I decided to just walk around until we found it. It took longer than either of us expected, I think, but it gave us time to get to know each other! I’ve never met someone like you, Yuuri. And with the lights so bright reflected in your eyes…” he broke off, staring at Yuuri’s face with his head rested on his palm. Yuuri dropped his gaze. “Yuuri was the one who spotted it. It was this cute little building with two giant rings lit up in gold on top, and he said, ‘I want us to have rings just like those, Victor,’ so we went inside and sure enough they had a whole selection right there! Yuuri picked them out and paid for everything and the next thing I knew I had a ring on my finger and the love of my life by my side.”

He thrust his hand towards Phichit who inspected the ring dutifully. “Wow, it really is a perfect match to yours Yuuri! That’s so romantic!”

Victor preened at the praise. “It really was! We went back to the hotel together he invited me up to his room, but by the time we got there we were both too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep. When I woke up the next morning I decided to go get us some coffees because we both had such a late night. It didn’t take very long, maybe half an hour, but by the time I got back…Yuuri, you were gone. I’m so sorry, I should have left a note, but I thought you’d realize I was coming back for you. At the very least I never thought you’d be able to clear out so quickly!”

“Oh, yeah. I woke up just before checkout so I packed up fast. I didn’t want to get a late charge! It’s not like I knew I should be waiting for you to get back,” Yuuri said. This was such a mess. He had humiliated himself in front of this beautiful human, coerced him into a spur-of-the-moment marriage, and then abandoned him immediately. If he didn’t have the emails as proof otherwise, he would have expected Victor to hate him. Even with the evidence he was half-convinced Victor would realize how big of a mistake this had all been and start shouting at him in the middle of the dining hall.

“I’ll admit I was confused at first, and disappointed. Bed empty, no note – I figured you had changed your mind about me. It was a rough couple of days. I thought my supervisor was going to lose his mind with how much I was moping, but then he pointed out that if you had really wanted to erase that night you would have tried to get in touch with me about annulling our marriage. So I decided to reach out to you first and make sure you knew how much I had enjoyed our time together and how I really wanted to see you again!”

“I thought you were pulling a prank on me. I didn’t remember anything you were talking about.”

“Ah, that explains it. I’d been wondering why you blocked my email address, but I guess if some guy I didn’t know kept insisting he was my husband I’d get a little weirded out too.” Victor chuckled. He reached out his hand to cover Yuuri’s resting on the table. “Now that you know the whole story do you feel any better?”

“No!” Yuuri drew his hand away. “Of course not! I drunkenly bribed you into marrying me and then ghosted you! I don’t understand why you don’t hate me, you’d have more than enough reason to after everything I put you through.”

Victor smiled. “Look, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to explain how much that night meant to me, Yuuri. Just please believe me when I say that you showed me a whole new way of life.”

“Well I for one am thrilled this mystery is finally solved! And you’re going to be moving in with us for the next month, is that right, Victor?” Phichit stood gracefully and clapped a hand to Victor’s shoulder. “I’ve gotta say, I can’t wait to see if you can bring out that wild unhinged version of Yuuri again!”

“Phichit!”

“What?! You know I love you, Yuuri, and you’re so much fun when you let loose! Victor clearly thinks so too. It’s just too bad you don’t let out that side of you more often! Now, I think our lunch break is more than over, and I have a lot of work to catch up on still. Victor, why don’t you show Yuuri where your office is set up? I’ll meet up with you two after work. Thanks for the chat!” Phichit breezed out of the room in the same manner he did everything: enthusiastically and full of overflowing optimism.

“Anytime!” Victor waved goodbye and then turned his full focus on Yuuri again. “Well, what do you say? Want to see where your husband will be working for the next month?” He winked and rose.

“By all means, lead the way.” Yuuri didn’t bother masking the sarcasm that leaked into his tone at the mention of their relationship. Victor ignored him in favor of taking his hand to pull him through the hallway.

He gave Yuuri a quick showing of his office, a mere three doors down from Yuuri’s own, but it was still bare and impersonal so Yuuri was able to return to work soon after. The rest of the day passed quickly between his attempt at getting paperwork done and the constant stream of visitors stopping by his office to see if the rumors were true. Eventually he got tired of the interruptions and posted a handwritten note on his door to deter anyone else from poking their noses into his business, and the second half of the afternoon was spent immersing himself in work thoroughly enough to forget about the whole mess he had unwittingly created.

Phichit and Victor arrived together at the end of the day, giggling at each other in a way that made Yuuri suspicious and dragging an enormous suitcase Victor must have brought from the hotel. They both saw the note on Yuuri’s door and collapsed in another fit of laughter while Yuuri grumpily gathered his belongings. “Yuuri, what’s this! A flow chart for whether people should try to talk to you? Ooh, Phichit, let’s see if we make the cut! Okay, we’re here to meet with Yuuri….oh, I’m out right away Phichit, I want to talk to Yuuri about our marriage. Do you think he’ll make an exception for me?”

“Ha! I’ll just ask you about your marriage, so I can skip that box. And I don’t need to ask Yuuri if he can introduce me to you because he already did! Third box is here for work related business, which doesn’t really apply…oh! Here we go. ‘Are you here to save Yuuri from the madness,’ I think that’s us! Yikes, Yuuri, aren’t you worried Celestino might see this?”

“I am now!” Yuuri yelped. He tore the sign off the door and tossed it into his wastebasket, then shut and locked the door behind him.

“Aww, Yuuri, we’ll save you!” Victor grabbed the handle of his hefty suitcase and linked his right arm with Yuuri’s left while Phichit flanked Yuuri to do the same on his right. They made their way through the building without too many stops; Phichit and Victor had taken to laughing and yelling out “No comment!” at anyone who tried to accost them.

The ride back to Yuuri and Phichit’s apartment was surprisingly enjoyable, the three of them finding a good balance for teasing each other and making plans for the rest of the evening. They got off the subway a stop earlier than usual in order to swing by the corner store for groceries and managed to gather the ingredients quickly. Yuuri could almost pretend that there weren’t people sneaking glances at Victor wherever they went, but there was a tingle running up and down his spine that left him permanently aware of the stares. Victor seemed not to notice, cheerfully picking out the strangest items he could find hidden amongst the shelves and showing them off, to Phichit’s endless delight.

Phichit and Yuuri went to work on dinner as soon as they were home, fitting easily alongside each other in the narrow kitchen; Victor had dropped his suitcase in the entryway and then disappeared immediately to explore their home. Yuuri left Phichit watching the meat cook once he was done chopping up vegetables, tracking down Victor in his bedroom. He stood in the open doorway for a moment, taking time to observe Victor with his guard down. He was sitting on Yuuri’s bed cross-legged, absently running his hands over the duvet with his head leaned back against the wall, and his eyes were shut. He looked relaxed but there was a wistfulness to his expression that Yuuri hadn’t expected. Yuuri watched him in silence, feeling more and more guilty about the invasion of privacy but unwilling to ruin the peace of the moment. Eventually Victor cracked an eye open and turned towards him with a smirk.

“Just going to stand there, or would you like to come join me in bed?”

Yuuri squawked.

“No! Um, sorry, it’s just – dinner is ready!” He flew back down the hallway towards the kitchen and immediately busied himself getting plates ready. Phichit had laughed the second he saw Yuuri’s flaming face but thankfully refrained from commenting. Victor ambled into the kitchen a minute later, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in his outfit and sniffing the air in interest.

“Wow, you guys really go all-out for taco night! I never have the patience to set up a bunch of toppings so when I make them they usually just end up being meat and shredded cheese.” Victor laughed. “This is such a nice treat!”

“Yuuri’s the one who always insists on prepping a bunch of veggies.” Phichit reached past the tomatoes to dive straight at the hot sauce. “Something about a balanced diet and vitamins, like we’re real adults who have to worry about our health. I’d be more upset about it if his meals didn’t taste so good. You’re in for a treat, Victor!”

Yuuri shook his head frantically. “I’m not that good, Phichit, don’t get his hopes up!”

“Yuuuuri, are you being modest again? I bet you’re a wonderful cook!” Victor met his eyes steadily and then made a show of glancing around at the many assorted bowls covering the tabletop, piled high with colorful vegetables.

“Chopping raw food isn’t the same as cooking,” Yuuri announced, piling lettuce on top of his ground beef. He saw Phichit give Victor a meaningful glance across the table and sighed. “But yes, I know how to cook, too. I learned from my mom,” Yuuri admitted. “I can’t make anything half as tasty as she can but she taught me a lot of recipes that are pretty good even when I have to substitute some ingredients.”

“Oh, right! Your parents run a hot springs resort back in Japan, right?”

Yuuri and Phichit both set down their tacos to stare openly at Victor.

“How did you know that?” Yuuri demanded. “I don’t remember telling you about them.”

“Well, no, we’ve established you don’t remember anything about our wedding night!” Victor replied cheerfully. “But you spoke very highly of them, I assure you. You clearly have a lot of love for your family. I think it’s sweet! I don’t have any blood relatives like you do but my supervisor in D.C., Yakov, was kind of like a surrogate father for me. And I technically have custody of Yuri, but Yakov and Lilia are his parents now in every way but legally.” He frowned. “I’m hoping to fix my relationship with him a little bit while I’m here. I worry that he feels as though I’ve abandoned him, and that’s not fair to him at all.”

“He mentioned something about that,” Yuuri said softly. “I don’t think he blames you, Victor, but I’m glad you’re planning to reach out to him. I get the sense that he’s a little lonely, and that he feels like people only care about him because he’s good at dancing.”

“Hmm, that’s unfortunate. I suppose I’ll just have to spend the next month proving to both Yuri’s how much I care about them!” Victor gave Yuuri a warm smile, and Yuuri let his own mouth curve up in response.

Phichit made a face. “Two Yuri’s is going to get confusing! We should come up with a nickname for the other one.”

Victor frowned and tapped a finger to his lips. “You’re right! Well, I’ve been thinking of him as ‘little Yuri’ since December, just to keep things straight in my head. Would that work?”

Yuuri laughed. “I think he will bite you in the arm if he hears you call him that in person, Victor.”

“Hmm, you’re right. I’d much rather keep my arms intact. Ah, my Yuuri is so considerate, looking out for me already!” Victor laughed at the blush that seeped across Yuuri’s cheeks. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Well, when I met him I kind of thought he looked like one of my sister’s favorite band members. Takao, I think? We could add the ‘o’ to his name in honor of that,” Yuuri suggested hesitantly. “We can call him Yurio.”

“Yuuri and Yurio…I love it!” Victor grinned and shoved more of his taco into his mouth. “Now that we’ve got that -mmph- settled, let’s talk about our plans for this month. I was being serious when I said I was going to show you just how much you mean to me! That means we’ll have to go on lots of dates, I think. Movies, dinners, strolls in the park…”

Yuuri blushed deeper and waved his hands. “You really don’t have to do that, Victor. I’m sure being around you at work and here at home will give us plenty of time to get to know each other.” _And plenty of time for you to realize how much you’re better off without me,_ Yuuri mused. _It’s going to hurt me more than I expected when you leave._ He had gotten used to Victor’s warm presence already, and it had only been a few hours of them knowing each other. Victor fit into his life so seamlessly it was like he was meant to be there but Yuuri knew that was nothing more than wishful thinking. Victor was a star, in the sense that he was shining and bright and wonderful, but also because he was a media star, a former Olympic gold medalist with a fanbase more fervent than Yuuri expect.

Victor didn’t seem to notice his distraction. “Nonsense, Yuuri! I already looked up all the best places in Detroit to go sightseeing, and next weekend there’s a new rom-com coming out that I’ve been dying to see. You wouldn’t make me go alone, would you?” Victor’s gaze locked on to Yuuri, and a slow smirk crawled over his face. Yuuri suddenly felt like the temperature of the room had risen ten degrees and he tried to break the contact, but for some reason he couldn’t stop himself from drowning in the blue of Victor’s eyes. The normal amount of time to reply to his question had come and passed, and they were left locked onto each other, both unwilling to break the magic of the moment.

Phichit coughed.

“Wow, you two are going to have a lot to do! Are you going to be sharing Yuuri’s room while you’re here?” Phichit rolled his eyes at Yuuri’s pointed glare. “What, you were going to have to figure out sleeping arrangements sooner or later!”

“No, we’re not! I’m going to stay on the couch. Victor can stay in my room, we’ll move his stuff in after dinner.”

Phichit let out a dramatic gasp. “Yuuri, you can’t stay on the couch for an entire month! You’re already married, what’s the harm in sharing a bed? It’s not like it would be the first time you’ve done it!”

“Ahh, Phichit, don’t say it like that!”

“How else should I say it?! That’s what happened!” Phichit cackled and jabbed Yuuri in the side. “I’m not the one you have to have this argument with, though. What do you think, Victor? Should Yuuri spend the month on the couch?”

Victor was frowning at Yuuri across the table. “Of course not. Yuuri, I’ll stay on the couch if you really don’t want to share your room, but there’s no way I’m going to let you give up your own bed after you’ve already welcomed me into your home so graciously!”

Yuuri sighed, sensing impending defeat, but he refused to go down without a fight. “It’s fine. I’m the one who invited you to stay here, remember? I’m not going to make the guest stay on the couch. Besides, I’m shorter than you are. Your legs will be cramped if you sleep on the couch.”

“I’m not that much taller! And you didn’t invite me, I invited myself! Yuuri, please, won’t you say you’ll sleep with me?” Victor fluttered his eyelashes wildly while Phichit tried to stifle laugher. “Pretty pretty please?”

“Alright, you win,” Yuuri groaned. Yuuri had accepted defeat the second Victor outright asked him. He had a feeling Victor could ask him for the most outrageous things and Yuuri would trip over himself trying to please him. _That’s probably a bad sign._ “We can share my bed. Like you said, it won’t be the first time I guess. At least now I’ll hopefully remember it.” He blushed at his phrasing. “Not – not like that. I just mean…” he trailed off, unsure how to save the sentence.

Victor was beaming at him like he had never heard anything better in his life, and Phichit was grinning like the cat who got the canary.

“I’m glad that’s settled! We’ll both be staying in your room,” Victor said. “And since I don’t think I can possibly eat another bite, I think it’s time we start setting up. Why don’t you help me move my suitcase into your room?” Victor stood and placed his plate by the sink before reaching up in a long stretch. “It’s been a day filled with a lot of excitement, and I’m pretty worn out. You must be too!”

“I’ll clean up,” Phichit offered. “Why don’t you two get settled in?”

Yuuri collected Victor’s suitcase from the front hall and wheeled it into his bedroom, tossing it on top of the chair in the corner that he typically used for rejected outfits. He turned to face Victor and held out his arms, waving them slightly. He felt a bit like an idiot, showing off his plain room that was really just an extension of his bland life, especially since he knew Victor had already been inside, but Victor’s eyes were alight with excitement.

“It’s a nice room, Yuuri. I got a little look around when I was in here earlier - you have quite the eclectic collection of music! - but I have to say my favorite part is definitely the bed. It’s very comfortable.” Victor was outright smirking now, not even bothering to hide the amusement in his voice. “I’m going to take a shower and brush my teeth, but then maybe you can join me in appreciating its many relaxing qualities?” His voice ticked up at the end in a mockery of a question, and he sauntered past Yuuri, making sure to brush against his side as though there was hardly enough space in the room for the two of them.

Yuuri willed his body to stop tingling at the contact and watched as Victor unzipped his suitcase to grab a bag of toiletries. “Um, the bathroom is just down the hall on the right, and there are towels in the closet. Do you need me to show you?”

Victor shook his head and waved, confidently marching out of the room. Yuuri watched him turn to the left and swing the door open without hesitation, then laughed at the shriek Phichit emitted. Victor didn’t react beyond slamming it shut again before spinning in a full 180 to whip the door on the right open instead.

As soon as he was out of sight Yuuri let himself go boneless on top of his mattress.

His bed really was quite comfortable, he mused. There was no telling what sharing a bed with Victor would be like when he was in full control of his mind, but by the way his heart barely slowed down all day he figured it was going to take a while for him to fall asleep. On the other hand, Victor had been right; all the excitement of the day left Yuuri feeling mentally drained. He sighed deeply and curled himself under the covers, deciding it wouldn’t be so bad to rest for just a minute while Victor took his shower. It had been a very busy week and a half, after all, and it would probably be wise to get a few solid minutes of relaxation before Victor came back and riled Yuuri up with his presence. He wouldn’t fall asleep, he would just close his eyes for one quick second…

He must have drifted off faster than expected, because the next he knew there was the sense of another presence in his room. He tried to rouse himself enough to understand what was going on, but the desire to slide back out of consciousness was so strong. The presence made a gentle shushing sound and brushed his hair back, so Yuuri let the soothing touch ease his mind back towards sleep. The last thing he remembered was a gentle shift of weight as someone slotted themselves into the bed beside him, rearranging the covers and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead before the pull of oblivion took him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I plotted this out I thought I could fit these events into the first third of the chapter. 4000 words later aaaaand my total chapter count has been thrown right out the window.

Yuuri woke up the next morning to the shrill sound of an alarm and the distinct sense that he had slept for longer than he meant to. He blinked slowly into consciousness, trying to piece together what was happening as he waved an arm uselessly towards the persistent beeping.

A low, throaty chuckle rumbled in his ear. “Not a morning person, are we, Yuuri? Don’t worry, you can keep sleeping. It’s early.”

Yuuri’s brain was too sluggish to be concerned by the fact that he had made it through his first night sharing a bed with Victor. He grumbled and turned his face into his pillow. “Why’re you ‘wake?” His question was muffled into the fabric, but Victor seemed to understand the gist of it.

“I have an errand to run. It might take a while, but I’ll see you at work later, yes?” Victor unfurled from the bed and Yuuri immediately mourned the loss of his body heat. He let out a small whine, and Victor ran a hand through Yuuri’s hair. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mmm, ‘kay.” Yuuri stopped resisting his exhaustion and let the repetitive feeling of Victor’s fingers carding through his hair lull him back to sleep.

When he woke next it was to the upbeat song he kept set as his alarm. When he set it up initially he’d hoped having music rather than beeping would make him more enthusiastic about getting out of bed to face the day, but he had realized quickly that this was not the case. Rising each day was a struggle for him no matter how many variables he changed. He sighed and swung his legs off the bed, and then blinked rapidly in confusion at the fact that he was wearing jeans. Why was he still fully clothed? Had he fallen asleep like this? _Oh, right. I was waiting for Victor to get done with his shower. I must have fallen asleep before he got back. Ah, I didn’t even brush my teeth! He must think I’m a total slob!_ Yuuri ran a hand down his face. He hadn’t even made it a full day before embarrassing himself thoroughly in front of Victor. Perfect.

He ran through his morning routine quickly, joining Phichit in scarfing down a small breakfast and pretending not to notice his friend’s persistent grin. Phichit at least had the courtesy to wait until they were done eating before sliding past Yuuri to slyly ask him, “So, did you have a good night?”

Yuuri ignored the teasing on their ride to work and sequestered himself in his office as soon as they arrived. He had an appointment with a new patient early in the morning, and while he appreciated the opportunity to avoid any pointed questions from his nosy coworkers, he felt a little guilty that he wasn’t able to devote as much attention to the client as he usually would. His mind kept drifting back to Victor, wondering what he was supposed to do about their situation.

Victor seemed determined to insert himself into Yuuri’s life, but he was still harboring the delusion that Yuuri was the suave, confident man that had seduced him. This was obviously incorrect and more than a little disconcerting, but until now Yuuri hadn’t had time to stop and think about his own impressions. He didn’t know Victor any better than Victor knew him, and in fact he probably knew even less. Drunk Yuuri had told Victor about his family, and presumably received information in return, and yet Sober Yuuri knew next to nothing about Victor. Regardless of whether the information had been shared with Drunk Yuuri or not, he hadn’t bothered to let Sober Yuuri know. So far all he knew about Victor was what he had learned in the scant few hours they had spent together yesterday and the small snippets of his personality that had emerged from his relentless emails.

The picture painted by these interactions was of a kind and enthusiastic man, optimistic to a fault and overflowing with positive energy. His warm demeanor bled into his every action, and it made Yuuri happy by proxy to see the joy he brought to everyone around him. Victor and Phichit were very similar in this manner, Yuuri mused. They both strived to make people feel happy and at ease, and they both excelled at doing so. Yuuri was lucky to have found someone like that once; it was almost too good to be true to have stumbled onto another one.

Yuuri got the impression that Victor’s charm came less naturally than Phichit’s, however. At the very least there seemed to be a suggestion of something else just underneath the surface; Victor did a good job of putting up a front, but on the few occasions Yuuri had gotten to watch over him unobserved there had been a melancholy air to him, and Yuuri wanted to get a better read on what it was before he came to any conclusions. He didn’t believe in love at first sight the way Victor whole-heartedly seemed to, or at least Sober Yuuri didn’t. Drunk Yuuri hadn’t seemed to share his doubts.

After his appointment (in which he did little more than make affirmative noises at his patient whenever they asked him questions) he shut himself back in his office. He thought about getting some work done, because at the rate his productivity had slowed down since Victor arrived he would soon be irreversibly swamped in overdue paperwork; instead, he spent his time before lunch making a list of questions he wanted to ask Victor. After he was satisfied with those, he moved on to a pros and cons list about the man. He had jumped headfirst into their relationship without his usual routine of looking at a situation from every angle and stressing himself out until he was sick with nerves, and the impulsiveness was starting to catch up to him. He could feel anxiety tingling along his spine, and he spun his ring around his finger a few times to try to stave off the worry for a little longer. It felt more fitting now that Yuuri had found his ring to be stress-relieving right from the start: it was just like Victor, this innate ability to calm him down a quality they shared. Victor had a way of speaking that made him feel like everything would be alright in the end, and he had been crashing through Yuuri’s walls without Yuuri even noticing; there wasn’t much he could do at this point but go along with the plan. It felt ridiculous and more than a little backwards to jump straight into married life, but Yuuri supposed it would mostly be like dating. He knew if they had met under any normal circumstances he would have been drawn to Victor naturally, but he also knew he would never have had the courage to initiate anything between them. That Victor seemed so interested in him was a miracle, but again, he hadn’t been around the real Yuuri long enough to learn the truth of him. Yuuri felt like they were two intersecting slopes; the longer he knew Victor the more was bound to grow attached to him, and the more Victor got to know of him the more his interest would surely wane. It was against his better judgement to keep going forward with their charade, this play on domesticity, but he wanted to regardless. Besides, between the combined forces of Victor and Phichit he didn’t have much say in the matter.

A quick knock on the door shook him out of his reverie. It opened before he could even acknowledge it and he scrambled to arrange his face into a professional expression, blinking up at the intrusion.

He should have known it would be Victor. Seeing his smiling face for the first time that day, backlit by the light from the hallway, hit him like a punch to the gut. Yuuri immediately realized how pointless his pros and cons lists had been. There was no way to quantify Victor Nikiforov; he simply _was_ , the kind of enigma that could never be summarized on paper.

Victor waved at Yuuri as another voice piped up from behind him. “Yuuri, are you ready for lunch? You don’t look ready. Did you lose track of time again?”

_Oh,_ Yuuri realized. _Phichit’s here too._

He hummed in acknowledgement and shoved his papers into semi-organized piles before following them to the cafeteria, still caught up in his own head. He let Phichit and Victor’s bright chatter wash over him throughout lunch, unable to focus on the conversation but appreciating the warmth of their presence. Phichit seemed to recognize that Yuuri had worked himself into a funk and did his best to keep Victor occupied, which Yuuri appreciated more than he could say. He’d have to cook something special for Phichit this week as thanks.

Victor followed Yuuri back to his office after lunch and made himself comfortable against the doorway. If he had felt any discomfort he didn’t mention it, carrying a conversation by himself as he chattered away into Yuuri’s silence. Yuuri tried to drag himself out of his own head long enough to catch the tail end of what seemed to be a very elaborate story.

“…and by that time it was too late, the wine had already set into the carpet and had stained it so deep it was hard to tell what was more red, the floor or Yakov’s face!” Victor had a huge grin taking over half his face, and Yuuri let himself be swept up in Victor’s enthusiasm.

“Did you ever get the color out?”

“Yes, yes, but it took a week before it was completely clean. Yakov swears he can still see a stain, but we think it’s just because he’s always seeing red. Listen, Yuuri…” Victor ran a hand through his hair in a gesture that almost looked like nerves. That was ridiculous, though. “I’ve been thinking about this. Us, I mean. I want to take you out tonight.”

Yuuri froze.

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal!” Victor hastily added. “I was thinking maybe dinner, and then a walk around the neighborhood? I actually have a surprise at your apartment that I think you’ll really enjoy. I hope you will. Enjoy it. Phichit thinks you will. It – that doesn’t matter. Will you let me take you out tonight?”

Yuuri stared at him. Was it his imagination, or was Victor sweating slightly? Maybe he shouldn’t have written off nerves so easily.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Victor added, and Yuuri berated himself for his lack of response.

“No, that sounds good. I’d like that.” He gave Victor a tentative smile and relaxed when it was returned tenfold.

“Perfect! That’s settled then. I, um, I should probably get back to work. I’ll see you at four?” He waited until Yuuri nodded before disappearing down back down the hall.

Yuuri didn’t bother pretending to work through the afternoon. He knew he was too distracted to be productive so he gave himself a free pass to spend his time daydreaming about what possible surprise Victor could have cooked up for him. The day passed quickly with this method, interspersed with a few curious visitors stopping by to bother him. _At least there’s less of them than there were yesterday. Word has probably gotten around that I’m not talking._ He laughed to himself. If there was one thing people knew for certain at RID, it was that Yuuri was an impenetrable fortress of silence when he wanted to be.

Phichit IM’ed him just before four to announce he was meeting up with Seung-gil and some friends after work, and not to expect him back before nine. Yuuri saw it for the obvious ploy that it was but he wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity either. He and Victor could use some time to themselves to get to know each other, and it wasn’t like it was any great hardship on Phichit to spend time with his non-work friends.

Victor showed up right on time, bouncing lightly on his heels while he waited for Yuuri to pack up his bag. They made light small talk on the trip back to the apartment, Victor getting visibly more excited the closer they got. By the time they reached the front door he was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Okay, just – do you trust me, Yuuri?” The smile he gave was so blinding Yuuri was helpless not to. He nodded. “Okay, close your eyes!”

There was the sound of a key scraping in the lock, and Yuuri only had a split second to question how Victor had gotten a key to their apartment before he was being bowled over by something huge and soft and very, very slobbery.

“Makkachin, wait! No! Down!!!”

Yuuri let out a peal of laughter as a dog’s tongue ran thick swipes across his face. He opened his eyes and let out a gasp at the adorable poodle staring back at him. Behind the dog Victor was frozen in awe, but Yuuri was too focused on his new best friend to notice. He buried his fingers in rich brown fur, nuzzled his face against the slobbery muzzle, and giggled as he was rewarded with more puppy kisses.

“Victor, why is there a dog in my apartment? Where did you get it?” Yuuri tore his eyes off the dog to glance up at him.

There was an attractive blush spread high on Victor’s cheekbones, and his jaw was hanging open. He snapped it shut as soon as he noticed Yuuri looking at him. “She’s mine! Makka’s my little baby darling, isn’t that right, Makka? You’re a good girl, yes yes yes!” He rubbed behind Makkachin’s ears. “I picked her up from the hotel’s kennel this morning. That’s where I went so early. I hope you don’t mind…I really wanted to surprise you, and Phichit said it would be fine. He even let me borrow his key!” He gave a nervous smile and held up the offending item. “She’ll be a lot happier here than she was at the pet hotel anyways. I felt guilty when I dragged her across the country with me but I don’t like leaving her behind. We both get lonely without each other. But having her stay here will be so much better, won’t it, Makka? Yes, you’re going to love it here!” He buried his face in Makkachin’s neck, avoiding eye contact, and his voice went muffled. “...that’s okay, right? Phichit said it would be fine, but I would understand if it’s too weird.” He glanced up through his lashes.

Yuuri laughed. Finally, a decision he didn’t have to feel torn about. “Victor. I would love to have Makkachin stay with us. I don’t think there’s anything I would like more.” He ran a hand through her curly fur. “I probably already told you this, but I actually used to own a poodle. He was a lot smaller than Makkachin, though.”

“I know,” Victor whispered. “And I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I figured I would have mentioned that to you.” Yuuri gave a sad smile. “I still miss him a lot. It will probably be really nice to have a dog around again, actually.” He stood up and dusted himself off. “Okay, so what’s on the agenda for tonight? Five-to-seven, Makkachin appreciation; seven-to-ten, fawning over Makkachin? Maybe followed by some Makka-snuggles and Makka-kisses?”

Victor giggled. “Well, she’s been cooped up all day. I was thinking maybe we could go for a walk now, and find some dinner along the way? My treat of course. We have to be back by nine because I stole Phichit’s key, but I checked online and there’s a food cart that’s scheduled to be parked out by the riverfront tonight. How do pork buns sound?”

“Pork buns?!” Yuuri gasped. “Now I get why I married you.” His eyes went wide the second the words left his mouth, heat burning through his cheeks, and Victor gave him to the most affronted expression Yuuri had ever seen.

“Yuuuuuuri! You mean to say it wasn’t for my dashing good looks or my sparkling personality? I’ve never been so insulted in my life!” He gripped at his chest and mocked fainting. “Makka, how will I survive? He only wants me for my taste in food!” Makkachin boofed at him, rearing up on her back paws. “Ahahaha, okay, I think Makka is getting impatient. Let me get changed and find her lead, and then we can go?”

Victor sashayed away into the apartment, Makkachin trotting behind him dutifully. Yuuri took the moment alone to regain his bearings. Having a dog in the apartment again filled a hole in his heart he hadn’t realized existed, and for it to be a poodle? It was better than he would ever dream to hope for. He felt lighter than he had in a long time, and he hummed as he inspected the changes in his apartment. Victor had set up food-and-water dishes in the same spot Yuuri used to keep them in the kitchen, and there was a giant, overstuffed dog bed under the window in the living room. A few toys were scattered around on the floor in various states of distress. Happiness warred with nostalgia; distantly he could feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, but his heart also felt so full he thought it might burst. His beloved Vicchan could never be replaced but he was positive Makkachin would be wonderful in her own way. There was no doubt.

As if sensing his train of thought, Makkachin returned to press her cold wet nose into Yuuri’s palm. He stroked her head, letting the familiar motion wash away his nostalgia. He let one lone tear escape in memory of Vicchan, felt it trace a slow path down his cheek, and as soon as it dropped off his chin he buried himself in Makkachin’s neck.

“Are you okay?”

Yuuri jumped. “Ah! Yes! No? You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that, Victor!” He clutched a hand to his heart. “I’m no spring chicken, you know. You could give me a heart attack!”

Victor scoffed. “I’m older than you are, Yuuri. You’ll be just fine. Besides, you’re cute when you’re flustered.”

Yuuri immediately felt flustered.

Victor smirked like that was his intention all along. “Alright, are we all ready to go? Makka, you want to go for a walk?!” Her ears perked up at the work ‘walk’ and she bounded around his feet excitedly. “Okay, okay, we’re going!” Victor laughed and then slipped into Russian as he clipped a leash to Makkachin’s lead, singing a tune that sounded vaguely like a children’s nursery song. He made sure everything was secure before rising to pin Yuuri with a jovial grin, waving an arm in front of him to motion for Yuuri to lead the way. “After you, _zoloste_.”

Yuuri squinted suspiciously at the foreign word but did as he was bid, directing their trio out into the streets. “You said you wanted to head towards the river for dinner, right?” Victor hummed in agreement. Yuuri steered them down a few side roads, easily picking their way through the city. He and Phichit took this route often during the summer to come down to festivals held by the river, and Yuuri liked to run on the Riverwalk when he wanted an easy day.

It didn’t take long to find the food truck, and Victor made good on his promise by buying them each an assortment of food, including the pork buns Yuuri had drooled over. They ate in amicable silence as they walked along the river, enjoying the view as the sky bled into pinks and oranges over the water. Victor steered them to a bench and motioned for Yuuri to sit with him while they finished their food, feeding scraps to Makkachin every so often. His expression turned slightly guilty when he noticed Yuuri watching him, but Yuuri just smiled back and offered Makkachin a bit of pork out of his palm as well. Victor looked positively delighted.

“I know it’s not good for her and I usually keep her on a fairly strict diet, but she’s been so good with all the travel I’ve put her through lately. She deserves a treat,” he said. “She knows better than to expect it every time.”

Yuuri sensed Victor might be stretching the truth a bit. Makkachin looked too comfortable snatching food from their fingers for it not to be a more common occurrence.

“I get it.” Yuuri shifted and tore off another small scrap to give to Makkachin. “I used to complain whenever Phichit fed Vicchan table scraps, but I did it too the second his back was turned. It makes them so happy.” He reached out to pet Makkachin on the head but the dog twisted to sniff his fingers instead. She gave them two good licks before turning to look at Victor expectantly.

“Tell me about Vicchan,” Victor asked softly.

Yuuri gave a dry laugh. “What can I say? I’m sure I told you everything there is to know about him.”

Victor sighed and looked up towards the sky. “That doesn’t matter, Yuuri. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you’re not the same person as the man I spoke to at the banquet. It’s not important if you’ve already told me things or not; I want to hear them from you. Please,” he added as an afterthough.

Yuuri stared at him in shock.   _He knows just what to say to make me feel better…I’ve been upset about the fact that we’re not on equal footing, but he’s willing to erase all that so we can have a clean slate. He’s willing to meet me where I am, and he deserves to have me open up to him._ He offered up a shaky smile. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

Victor smiled. They traded stories as twilight stole over them, Victor never once indicating he was bored although Yuuri was sure he was doing nothing more than repeating information. He let Yuuri rewrite his identity and gave Yuuri his own in return, divulging intimate details of his life without hesitation whenever Yuuri asked. He smiled and shrugged when Yuuri pointed it out, deeming it only fair.

They both glanced up when the street lamps clicked on above their heads. “Ah, it’s getting late already. We should probably head back before Phichit gets home to a locked apartment,” Victor murmured. His arm was slung across the back of the bench, hovering around Yuuri’s shoulders, and his face had somehow inched closer to Yuuri’s as they talked, until they were left nearly nose to nose.

He hummed in response, unwilling to be the first to pull away. Yuuri felt like there was electricity thrumming through his veins, leaving him fine-tuned to Victor’s presence. Yuuri could see the entire gradient of blues and greens in Victor’s irises, illuminated by the glow of the lights. _Ah, I really want to kiss him,_ he thought. _I wonder…_ A shiver ran up his spine.

Unfortunately, this spurred Victor into action. “Ah, are you cold, _solnyshko_?” He stood and helped Yuuri to his feet before wrapping an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders, draping himself carefully and rubbing at Yuuri’s arm to warm him up. “We can’t have that! Come on, Makkachin, lead us back!”

Yuuri could feel the moment slipping out of his grasp. It was now or never. “Victor, wait.”

Victor turned to face him, a question on his lips, but Yuuri didn’t give him time to speak. He grabbed Victor’s face between his hands and slamming his eyes shut before pressing a hard kiss to his mouth. _Oh_ , Yuuri realized. _Oh._

 His eyes snapped back open as his brain caught up to his actions and he found himself staring directly into Victor’s eyes, blown wide open with shock.

He gasped and pulled away.

“I – sorry, I just—”

Victor cut him off by dragging him back in for another kiss, gentler this time but no less desperate. He let their lips linger against each other for a moment before stepping back to look at Yuuri through his lashes. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting you to do that, Yuuri,” he admitted sheepishly. There was a pinch of red high on his cheekbones. He looked resplendent.

“Oh,” Yuuri said.

Victor smiled and gave Yuuri one more quick kiss before reaching down to link their hands. “Thank you for tonight. For everything.” He squeezed Yuuri’s hand once, like he was checking to make sure it was there. “…we should probably hurry back though. I don’t want to get on Phichit’s bad side so soon.” He let out a short, bright laugh. “Let’s head home?”

“Yeah,” Yuuri whispered. “Let’s head home.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took FOREVER, I'm so sorry! The first half was hard to write because I wasn't that invested in what happened, and then the second half was written while I was a little drunk, and I really wanted to post it so I'm not bothering to edit yet. I'll wait until tomorrow night when I'm sober. I hope it's not too incomprehensible!

Waking up in bed with Victor was a different experience than Yuuri expected.

For the first time he could remember, Victor was still there when he woke up and it was surprisingly anticlimactic. He had half-feared, half-hoped that they would drift together through the night and wake up tangled together; instead, they were spread as far apart as the bed allowed, and Victor had curled into a ball facing away from him. Victor had also kicked the covers off, Yuuri noted with a sigh. Co-sleeping might take some getting used to.

He shut his alarm off as Victor began to stir and Victor graced him with a sleepy smile and a few slow blinks before looking around in mild confusion. “Did you steal all of the sheets?”

Yuuri yawned, raised an eyebrow, and pointed at the floor.

“Oh. That makes sense,” Victor said sheepishly. He bit back a yawn of his own. “I probably should have warned you.”

Yuuri gave an uninterested grunt and gathered up some clothing. “I’m going to shower. Feel free to help yourself to anything for breakfast.” He shuffled down the hallway and banged on Phichit’s door to make sure his roommate woke up before starting his daily rituals.

He showered quickly, forcing himself not to linger on the thought that Victor was likely still laying warm and sleepy in his bed. Now was not the time. Some days it was hard enough to get to work on time between himself and Phichit; adding a third person to their routine meant rushing.  _Or,_  Yuuri thought,  _setting an alarm for even earlier._ He gave a preemptive yawn at the prospect.  

The trio burst through the doors of RID just on time thanks to a smoother-than-usual commute, and they all rushed to their respective offices with hasty goodbyes. Yuuri’s first appointment for the day was with the newly-dubbed Yurio, something he had been looking forward to since Monday morning, so he gathered everything he needed quickly before heading to the studio room. The room was empty when he arrived and he took a moment to center himself after the morning’s excitement. Between Victor and Phichit he felt constantly alert, and as much as he enjoyed the positive energy he was exhausted before the day even started. He let a few deep breaths flow through him and spun his ring twice before settling down and pulling out a few files, but before he could start any work he was interrupted by the arrival of Victor.

Yuuri frowned. “What are you doing here?” He gave Victor a quick once-over, noting that he was carrying a laptop and notebook, along with what appeared to be a brightly colored children’s toy.

Victor gave him an amused smile. “Hello to you too, Yuuri.” Yuuri rolled his eyes at the note of sarcasm. “I’m going to be observing your session with Yurio today! I emailed Celestino about it. I’m fairly certain I CC’d you in. Did you not get it?” His eyebrows shot up. “Yuuri! Have you not unblocked me yet?!”

“Um, I guess not. I’m sorry! I hadn’t really thought about it!” Yuuri laughed and made a placating gesture in Victor’s direction at his affronted expression. “I’m sorry! I’ll do it as soon as I go back to my office. Do you think Yurio will mind that you’re going to be here?”

“Mm, probably,” Victor said, “but he doesn’t really get to have a say. This is my job, you know! I don’t just stand around all day and look pretty.” He gave an exaggerated wink in Yuuri’s direction. “That’s your job. I’m here to get a reading on how all of our P.T.’s interact with their patients, to see if there are areas where we need to do any retraining to catch up to current methods in the industry.”

Yuuri blushed violently at Victor’s blatant flirting but it faded as his words sunk in. “Huh? You’re going to be observing me? I thought retraining was Celestino’s job…”

“It is!” Victor said, sunny smile fixed firmly in place. “I’m just helping him out for the month. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, but I would never be able to shadow Yakov like this. Yakov already thinks I do my own job wrong, he would never let me try to tell other people how to do theirs.”

Yuuri was saved from thinking about the implications of this situation by Yurio showing up suddenly and violently. He crashed through the door like a small blond bull, yelling ferociously into his cell phone. “I don’t care! No!” He caught sight of Yuuri first and held up a hand in acknowledgement before catching sight of Victor. His face went from white to red in a split second and he growled out a quick “I have to go,” before hanging up on whoever he had been shouting at. He held out one accusatory finger at Victor. “What is  _he_  doing here?”

“Why, Yurio, you sound like you’re not happy to see me!”

Yurio screeched. “What did you just call me?!”

“Well, we couldn’t have two Yuri’s running around, could we? Much too confusing. It was agreed upon last night – you’ll be Yurio now!” Victor clapped his hands together. “Isn’t it great?”

Yurio did not look like he thought this was great.

“Whatever. I’m not going to deal with that right now. My appointment is with Yuuri, not you, old man. Why are you here?” When Victor merely responded with a shrug, he turned his glare on Yuuri. “Get rid of him,” he demanded, jabbing his pointed finger towards Victor.

Yuuri wavered, uncomfortable and unsure of how to explain the situation to Yurio without setting him off further. He had always hated the feeling of being trapped in the middle of things. He let his eyes flick back and forth between them several times, wondering if they would even notice if he inched his way out of the door. It had always worked on his sister, after all. Maybe if he was very careful…

“Oy, what are you doing?! You can’t leave!”

Damn.

Victor seemed to take pity on Yuuri’s discomfort. “I’m not here for you, Yurio, don’t worry. Or at least, not directly!”

(“I wasn’t worried,” Yurio muttered, looking vaguely disappointed.)

“I’m just here to observe the appointment. Making sure Yuuri knows his stuff,” Victor said with a shrug. “It’ll be like I’m not even here.”

Yurio scoffed. “Not likely. And you think you’re competent enough for this crap? Does Yakov know what you’re doing?” Yurio shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t care. Let’s get started,” he finished with a huff.

Yuuri still felt a twinge of discomfort at suddenly becoming neutral territory to be won, but he began running through activities with Yurio, letting Victor’s presence fall to the back of his mind. They were halfway through their schedule before he finally spoke up.

“That’s great, Yuuri, but can I just add something in right here? He should be working on his medial rotation in this leg if he wants to keep his flexibility after his hip heals.” Victor carefully leaned over and took ahold of Yurio’s leg to manipulate it in demonstration. “Tell me when it hurts, Yurio.”

To Yuuri’s surprise, Yurio let himself be manhandled into a few more positions to test the extents of his flexibility. Also to Yuuri’s surprise, Victor was completely professional while doing so. Yurio seemed to be as shocked as he was; his expression had morphed from mildly indignant to grudgingly respectful as they both seemed to come to the realization that Victor was beyond competent at his job. By the end of the session both Yuuri and Yurio’s faces were frozen in awe.

Yuuri passed this revelation along to Phichit at lunch. Victor had taken Yurio out for lunch, claiming they had lots of catching up to do; his professional mannerisms had disappeared the second the appointment ended, and Yuuri had some doubts about whether Victor would still be alive later based on the expression he had seen on Yurio’s face after Victor had gleefully ruffled his hair. He was grateful for the chance to catch up with Phichit alone, but Phichit was less surprised at the news of Victor’s abilities than Yuuri had expected.

“I mean, what did you expect? He was a world class figure skater, he probably had his fair share of physical therapy throughout his career. Plus he holds one of the highest positions in his office in D.C. and you know they wouldn’t just give him that job if he didn’t know what he was doing,” Phichit explained as he pulled apart his sandwich with an unimpressed expression. “Ew, look at this, the lettuce is all soggy!” He waved the offending leaf in Yuuri’s face.

Yuuri frowned. “How do you know what his job was in D.C.?”

“I asked him, duh. Did you really not know?”

“No, he told me. I guess I just hadn’t realized the implications of it. He seems so different in his personal life than he is when he’s working,” Yuuri murmured, checking his own sandwich to ensure his lettuce wasn’t as wilted as Phichit’s.

“Yeah, because he’s a professional! Did you expect him to be draping himself all over you during observation?” Phichit giggled. “I mean, it’s not like I can’t imagine it, because I totally can. That man can barely keep his hands off you under normal circumstances. But he’s not an idiot, he wouldn’t do anything to get either of you in trouble at work. He’s a good guy, Yuuri. You’re very lucky your husband is such a catch!”

Phichit let out a shriek that transformed into a fit of laughter as Yuuri pinched the backs of his arms. “Hey, come on, no fair! You know he’s a total babe. Admit it!”

“I will admit no such thing,” Yuuri said, but he buried his face in his hands immediately as he felt a blush rising, his body betraying him.

“Okay,” Phichit agreed, “you don’t have to admit it. I’ll admit it for you. You have a crush on your husband.” He cackled.

“Mmm. Speaking of crushes, how did last night go? Seung-gil responding to any of your advances yet?”

Phichit sighed and stared dramatically off into middle distance. “Tragically, no. We had a lovely night of platonic movie-watching and platonic gaming and platonic dog-petting. I let my hand graze his no less than fifteen times, Yuuri. Fifteen! And yet – nothing. If I were a lesser man I would be worried he was trying to politely let me down, but I’m pretty sure he just hasn’t picked up on my signals yet. Maybe I’m being too subtle? But Friday is another day and another chance to try my shot at love!”

“Friday?” Yuuri mumbled through a bite of sandwich. He rolled his eyes at Phichit’s affronted expression and swallowed before continuing. “What’s happening Friday?”

“Well, actually, I’m glad you ask! I’ve been thinking, don’t you want Victor to meet our friends sometime? I think they’d all really get along, and I’m sure he’d be thrilled to meet the gang. We haven’t hosted a movie night in a long time, so if it’s okay with you I thought maybe we could have some people over Friday night. Just the usual crowd, very low key this time. I swear!” Phichit added at Yuuri’s look of disbelief. “You know last time wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know JJ would invite everyone and their brother along? I promise, this would just be Leo, Guang-hong, and Seung-gil. I’ll make them pinky swear not to tell anyone else if you want. It’ll be fun, like a triple-date night! Maybe then Seung-gil will finally get the hint.” He sighed again.

Yuuri hummed around a bite of sandwich as he turned it over in his head. On one hand, he liked the three boys; he knew they were more Phichit’s friends than they were his, but he enjoyed their company nonetheless. Leo and Guang-hong were both as outgoing and sunny as Phichit, whereas Seung-gil was quiet and reserved like Yuuri, notoriously frosty to everyone outside of their tight-knit group. On the other hand, he was nervous about introducing Victor to the realities of Yuuri’s social life. If they got along, it would only make things harder when he left, back to his life in D.C., and it was already going to be bad enough. No one could meet Victor without getting attached and he would be willingly encouraging more people to fall into the trap that he had himself.

Phichit, correctly interpreting Yuuri’s silence as reluctance, broke the silence. “At least mention it to Victor? I can always figure something else out if you really don’t want to, but I know he would love a chance to get to meet your friends. Are you worried we’ll embarrass you?”

Yuuri choked on his next bite. “No! That’s not it at all. I just…I’m going to miss Victor when he goes back home. The more I bring him into my life the harder it’s going to be to forget him when this is over…”

Phichit stared at him with a strange, pinched expression on his face. “Okay, we are not dealing with that right now. Not at lunch. But if that’s your reasoning, I’m making the call – we’re having a party Friday night. Let Victor know.” He picked at his lunch and gave Yuuri a long, hard look. “This discussion isn’t over, though. I don’t know where your mind is at right now but I have a pretty good guess, and I don’t think you and Victor are on the same page about this situation. I’d tell you to talk to him about it, but…just, maybe wait until you and I catch up, okay? What are your plans for tonight?”

“I’m not sure. Victor said he has a date in mind, but he wants it to be a surprise I guess. Hopefully nothing too expensive,” Yuuri mused.

Phichit scoffed. “I’m sorry, have you met the same Victor I have? That man has impeccable taste and no self-control. Especially around you. Prepare to be wined and dined within an inch of your life! Ugh, you’re so lucky, Yuuri.”

Yuuri let out a dry laugh and picked up his tray. “Yeah, well. I’ll see you later tonight, okay? And I promise I’ll tell Victor about Friday.” He waved goodbye to Phichit and made his way back to his office, wondering how this had become his life. Between Victor’s surprise dates and the prospect of working alongside him for the foreseeable future, Yuuri was a little worried he would combust; the overwhelming cocktail of happiness and trepidation that were now his primary emotions left him in a constant state of mild anxiety and it was exhausting.

Victor shadowed Yuuri to all of his appointments for the rest of the week, always maintaining the distant attitude he adopted during work hours. He excused himself to his office when Yuuri didn’t have patients, emailing Yuuri questions about their work sporadically as soon as Yuuri unblocked his email address.

Lunchtimes were a different story. Victor apparently did not consider lunch to be official work time, and usually spent the break pestering Yuuri about what type of date he would like to go on that evening. Yuuri was very sure he had never thought about what constituted a date so much in his life.

Victor’s surprise date Wednesday night was an Urban Exploration and Photography tour that Phichit had apparently enthusiastically recommended to him, which had been wonderful, if not entirely Yuuri’s thing; he spent the majority of the trip thanking his lucky stars that it wasn’t anything more over the top. Victor had been thrilled, taking both high-quality pictures as well as frequent photos on his phone to upload to Instagram later, and Yuuri was relieved that Victor enjoyed it, having nixed his other suggestion of a walking tour called Corktown is Popping. He didn’t quite trust himself to interact with Victor and alcohol at the same time again yet. It was hard enough to stop himself from latching on to Victor like a sea urchin on a ship without the added factor of lowered inhibitions. By some miracle, his restraint held until they were tucked next to each other in bed before indulging in soft, chaste kisses, sighing into each other’s mouths before drifting slowly off into dreamless sleep.

Thursday, Victor brought Yuuri to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Yuuri was beyond excited when he found out, having wanted to go for a long time but never having the initiative to take himself. Victor’s satisfied smile at this realization was almost more breathtaking than the art itself. Victor’s interest in the arts was just one more thing shared between them, adding to a list so long it was beginning to force Yuuri to take notice. Their personal and professional lives meshed seamlessly; the constant interaction from working as part of a team with Victor was wearing down the few walls Yuuri had left, and when when Victor admired Diego Rivera’s auto industry mural followed up by a rapid tangent about the inspiration of Freida Kahlo, Yuuri felt himself melt.

 After the museum, Yuuri let Victor take him and their dogs out for ice cream and another walk along the river, and Victor let Yuuri kiss vanilla soft serve off the corner of his mouth. They turned in early, worn out by the excitement of the past few days, only able to hold onto consciousness long enough to bid each other goodnight before drifting off into oblivion.

By Friday morning, Yuuri was more than ready for a quiet night in, and Victor was practically vibrating out of his skin with excitement at the chance to meet Yuuri’s friends. (‘Phichit’s friends,’ Yuuri corrected every time Victor said this. Victor steadfastly ignored him). Over lunch they coordinated with Phichit and agreed that Yuuri and Victor would be in charge of snacks while Phichit took care of drinks; when Yuuri offered to take care of the drinks himself Phichit had scoffed and said no quite firmly before giving Victor a long, contemplative look, then frowning and shaking his head no less certainly. “Not this time, at least,” he decided.

Yuuri let himself be dragged through the convenience store after work, having been given the very important task of Basket Carrier. Victor was twirling through the aisles like a small tornado, adding and removing things from Yuuri’s arms so fast Yuuri was sure he missed half of what they were buying. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to his choices; Victor’s eyes lit up at a five-pound container of gummy bears, but he glared at a small package of gummy worms as if they had insulted his mother. He gleefully weighted Yuuri down with what seemed to be every sweet or salty item in the store, and by the time he gave a satisfied nod at their haul Yuuri was panting slightly under the strain.

Victor chattered excitedly with the other patrons in line as they waited, only refocusing at the small gasp Yuuri let out when he saw their total. “Seventy-five dollars on candy and junk food? How is that even possible?” He reached for his wallet, already restructuring his monthly budget in his head.

Victor cut him off before he could take his card out of his wallet. “Yuuri, let me. Please. It’s my treat for you and your friends. I know I went a little overboard, but I really want them to like me,” Victor said, unabashed.

“Phichit’s friends,” Yuuri corrected for the hundredth time, “but thank you. And you don’t have to worry about them. They’ll love you. It’s basically impossible not to.” He blushed and averted his eyes, peeking up only to gauge Victor’s reaction.

Victor was smiling down at him with a soft look in his eyes Yuuri couldn’t quite identify. A light blush bloomed high on his cheekbones. “Hm, I don’t know if Yurio would agree with that statement,” he murmured, quiet. “But I’m certainly glad you think so.” He brushed a strand of Yuuri’s hair back into place and let his hand linger by his cheek. They both startled when the cashier cleared her throat.

“Ah, right. Here, I’ll take these three bags if you can get the others, Yuuri?” They collected their items and walked back to the apartment in amicable silence. Yuuri could sense Victor’s anticipation mounting even higher, and he let himself be washed away in the feeling of excitement. It had been a while since he and Phichit had hosted one of their infamous movie nights, but last summer they had been a big hit.

 _Leo and Guang-hong actually started dating thanks to us,_  Yuuri mused.  _Well, us and some cheap tequila. Who would have guessed Leo would be such a lightweight and Guang-hong would be able to hold his liquor like that?_

The plan was for their guests to arrive around seven, and by the time Yuuri and Victor made it back from the store it was nearing six o’clock. They set to work immediately, dumping chips and candy into serving dishes and loading up the microwave with popcorn. Victor moved through their kitchen with surprising confidence, considering he had only been staying there since Monday; he carried out Yuuri’s instructions without hesitation, their call and response a flawless dance of movement, flinging bowls and platters in Yuuri’s direction the second he asked for them.

Once the final bag of popped popcorn had been dumped into the bowl they stood back to admire their handiwork. Yuuri turned to congratulate Victor on a job well done, but found the other man frowning.

“I could have sworn we got a bag of mixed nuts. You don’t see them here anywhere, do you?” He peered past a plate of veggies. “I know I put them on the conveyor belt, but I don’t remember unpacking them.”

Yuuri felt his heart sink into his stomach. “Victor, I’m so sorry, I think that’s my fault. I – I didn’t spin the carousel to check for more bags, I just grabbed what I saw right in front of me. I’ll go back for more!” He marched towards the door.

“Yuuri,” Victor sighed, “it’s okay. We have plenty of other food here. We don’t need the nuts.”

“But I left them! And you already paid for them and everything, I’ll just go back and explain what happened—”

“Even if the cashier remembered you, and everything we bought, do you really think they’d still be there? Forget about them, what we have now is fine.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Let it go. Do you really want to go back out again?”

Yuuri frowned, feeling unjustifiably indignant. “You don’t have to say it like that.”

“Fine, I don’t want you to go back out again. Is that better? What would happen if your friends showed up while you were gone, and I was here all alone and had to explain that I had sent you out, into the dark of the night, just to get a bag of mixed nuts when we had so much other food sitting right here? That would be a terrible first impression!” Victor pulled Yuuri into a loose hug. “I’m not mad at you for leaving them behind. I don’t want you to be mad at you either.”

Yuuri let out a long breath and tried to relax into Victor’s arms. His stomach was still rolling, but it settled slightly when he felt the ghost of a kiss brush against the top of his head. He shoved his face into the crook of Victor’s neck. “Okay.”

Victor pulled away and gave Yuuri a gentle smile. “Thank you. Now, I am going to let Makkachin out before your friends get here. Do you need help with anything else first?”

Yuuri shook his head and watched Victor’s lips quirk up in a flash of amusement before he danced away to slip a leash on Makkachin and head out the door. Yuuri felt his anxiety come back in full force the second the door shut behind them. He knew he was being irrational, but he couldn’t help the intrusive thoughts that were pushing and shoving at his mind.

_He’s never coming back. Taking the dog out was just an excuse. You ruined everything, already, and now he’s left and he’s never coming back and he hates you, and you couldn’t just follow simple instructions, could you? ‘Grab the rest of the bags,’ it’s not like he asked you to move mountains or anything. And now he’s gone. He hates you, he couldn’t stand to be around you once he saw how pathetic and useless you are, no one will ever stay, you ruin everything, push everyone away with your helplessness and incompetence. You fail everything you try, you failed in life and you fail in love, too. No one will ever love you. Especially not Victor. You’re dragging him down, you conned him into marrying you and now look where he is, holed up in your shitty little apartment, halfway across the country from his friends, from his home, from his life. You trapped him, he’s stuck with you until you sign divorce papers and you let him think you weren’t as horrible as you are. You let him stay, you let him get invested and you wasted his time and now he hates you, just like everyone hates you, he hates you, everyone hates you, he—_

“…Yuuri? Yuuri, I need you to listen to me. Can you hear me, Yuuri? It’s okay, you’re going to be okay, just breathe. That’s it, count them for me, can you do that?” A familiar voice slowly swam into his awareness, muffled like he was hearing it from underwater. Someone’s hand was rubbing circles on his back.

Yuuri gasped for air, heaving huge lung-fulls in and out as he frantically blinked to clear his vision. He squinted, trying to focus, but everything remained blurred around the edges.  _Oh,_  he realized distantly,  _I’m crying._

“It’s okay, you’re okay, it’s okay,” Phichit was murmuring next to him. “I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re okay.” The hand drawing patters on Yuuri’s back gave the faint sensation of blunt nails dragging across his shirt, Phichit’s signature move for calming Yuuri down.

Yuuri ran a hand across his eyes and his vision cleared; at some point he had sunk down to the floor. He focused on maintaining steady, even breaths in time with Phichit’s small circles, and slowly he tore himself out of the destructive cycle of thoughts in his head.

“Hey, hey, are you back with me, Yuuri? That’s it, you’re okay. Are you going to be okay if I go get you a glass of water?” Yuuri nodded and he felt Phichit’s presence leave his side. He was back in seconds, immediately restarting the back rubs as he pressed a glass into Yuuri’s hands. “Here, drink.”

Yuuri gripped the glass tight, taking small gulps of water. His heart rate slowed with every sip, and his mind cleared. Also, because the universe could never let him have too much of a win, he got the hiccups.

“Thanks, Phichit. I think I’m fine now. Sorry about that,” Yuuri said, attempting a reassuring smile.

“Do you want to talk about it? It’s been a while since something like this has happened,” Phichit frowned.

“I know. And thanks, but it’s stupid. I’m fine now, really.” Yuuri glanced around, ignoring Phichit’s concerned expression. “The others should be here soon, we should finish getting ready. Where’s Victor?”

Phichit stood and gave Yuuri a little distance, still frowning unhappily. “He was outside with Makkachin when I got home. Did he do something? Is that what’s wrong?”

“No no no, nothing like that.” Yuuri sighed. “I forgot one of our bags at the store. It was my fault. He said he wasn’t upset about it, but then he left with Makkachin, and you know how I get.” He laughed depreciatingly. “At least he didn’t have to see this. It’s so stupid, Phichit. I’m sorry. Thanks for helping me.”

“Always. I know it’s hard to remember when your brain plays tricks on you, but I’ll always be here for you. I promise,” Phichit said. He gave Yuuri a fond smile and patted him on the shoulder lightly. “Now are you going to help me put away these drinks or what?”

They separated the beer and mixers from the frankly dizzying amount of hard liquor Phichit had bought, shoving the lighter items into the fridge and placing the vodka, gin, and rum into the freezer. The whiskey and wine was left out on the counter.

(“I only hope I got enough,” Phichit said, looking over the assortment with concern.

“Phichit. Why??” Yuuri responded, also staring in concern, albeit for a vastly different reason.)

Victor chose that moment to return with Makkachin, whistling a cheerful tune that cut off abruptly when he was shown the amount of alcohol Phichit had brought home. “…You did say there were only going to be six of us, right?”

Phichit gave him an unimpressed look. “Do I sense judgement coming from the man who also bought all of this food for only six people? Or, dare I say, from the man who got so drunk in Vegas that he woke up married to a stranger?”

Victor grinned. “You’re right. I should have guessed anyone who’s Yuuri’s friend would be able to put away drinks like he can. He had to learn from someone, right?”

“Actually,” Yuuri pointed out, disgruntled, “I get that from my dad.”

“Really?! Wow!”

Phichit laughed. “Just wait until you meet Guang-hong. He’s so tiny, but he can drink like nobody’s business. It’s incredible to witness.”

Yuuri nodded forcefully. “It’s true! I once saw him finish a six-pack and an entire bottle of rum by himself and still manage to crush Leo at Dance Dance Revolution.”

Victor’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Remind me not to get into a drinking contest with that one, then.”

“Drinking contest?” Phichit visibly lit up. “You know, I hadn’t thought about it, but that’s a good idea, isn’t it, Yuuri?”

Yuuri groaned. Phichit jabbed him in the side.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Yuuri gave Phichit a pointed glare. “Nope. Count me out. I am not ready to drink around that one yet.” He swung his glare towards Victor. “But if you two want to, have at it. I’ll even be the judge. Or referee. Whatever you want to call it.”

Phichit pouted, but nodded and turned to Victor. “How ‘bout it? You in?”

Victor’s mouth curved up into a shark-like grin. “I’m ready to start now if you are.”

Fifteen minutes and a bottle of whiskey later, Phichit and Victor were staring each other down across the coffee table while Yuuri single-handedly transported the snacks from the kitchen to the living room. They only broke eye contact when the apartment door burst open, followed by two voices loudly calling out greetings. Leo and Guang-hong barged into the room hand-in-hand and Seung-gil trailed behind them silently, a scowl on his face that got a little less pronounced the second he met Phichit’s eyes. Yuuri smirked to himself. If Phichit couldn’t see how gone on him Seung-gil was, he must be completely blind.

“Seung-gil! You made it!” Phichit let out a huge grin and immediately got up to greet their guests. “Victor, meet Leo de la Iglesia and Ji Guang-hong, partners in crime and co-champions of the 2016 Beer Pong Olympics. I realize now saying that to a real Olympian might be a little offensive but I stand by the name. And this sexy, silent stud over here is Seung-gil.” Phichit gave an exaggerated wink in Seung-gil’s direction and received a glower in return. “Everyone, meet Olympic-gold winning figure skater and Yuuri’s fabulous husband, Victor Nikiforov!”

Yuuri counted out five long, silent seconds in his head before the room erupted into chaos.

“Your  _what_?!” Guang-hong and Leo shouted in tandem. They turned to each other and started talking over each other, faster and faster before turning to stare at Yuuri. “Your WHAT?!” They accused again.

Seung-gil, living up to his stoic reputation, remained silent, but his face was no longer set in its usual neutral scowl; instead, he was staring between Yuuri and Victor with an expression of open shock. His mouth opened in a little ‘o’ of surprise before he seemed to regain thought process, snapping it shut and reaffixing his features into a blank expression.

Victor ignored the uproar he had caused, waving brightly at their guests. “Hi, nice to meet you!” He grinned and tugged Yuuri in to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting my Yuuri’s friends, I’ve heard some very interesting stories about all of you – especially you.” He pointed at Guang-hong, who blinked up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

Leo smirked. “Yeah, don’t let his little act fool you. I fell for that once; it’s been a year and I still can’t get rid of him.” He nuzzled his nose into Guang-hong’s hair. “Also, I was drunk for like, a week straight.”

Guang hong turned his doe-eyes on his boyfriend. “Oh, that doesn’t sound like me! I’m too small to be able to out-drink anyone, I’m sure.”

Seung-gil snorted. “Yeah, I’m with Leo on this. That one can’t be trusted.”

Guang-hong giggled as Yuuri let out a sigh of relief at how quickly his friends had moved past the shock of his unexpected marriage announcement. He shouldn’t have been surprised. The five of them got along for a reason, namely a preternatural sensitivity to each other’s emotional needs. Phichit and Yuuri were the base of the group, having met as roommates in college and continuing to live together due to backbreaking student loan payments and convenience as coworkers. They had picked up Guang-hong at college as well after he chimed in on one of their jokes in class and then drank them both under the table that same evening. He had brought Leo into their group sometime post-graduation, under unclear circumstances; Guang-hong claimed they had hit it off after a pickup soccer game, while Leo insisted they met at a bar a month earlier than that. Phichit and Yuuri both suspected there was a one-night stand involved, but the theory had been neither confirmed nor denied.

Seung-gil had been given less of a choice about his initiation. Phichit had spotted him in a dog park one day and immediately sprinted across four lanes of traffic to flag him down and befriend him before he and his husky could disappear. Seung-gil called him insane every time the story came up, but Yuuri didn’t miss the small spark of hope that flashed across his eyes whenever Phichit described his desperation to catch him.

Phichit was rolling his eyes at Guang-hong’s act. “You’re too late this time, Guang-hong, sorry. I claimed Victor for tonight already, and oh look! I’m ready for another drink. Victor?”

“Let’s do this.”

Phichit and Victor raced each other to grab more alcohol while the four rational men stuck with beer. They all gathered in the living room with their drinks and settled in, Leo pulling Guang-hong onto his lap on the love seat and Seung-gil claiming the only recliner, leaving Phichit, Yuuri, and Victor to squish together on the couch. Yuuri was relegated to the middle seat, caught in the crossfire of Phichit and Victor’s competitive glances as they raced to finish their drinks first. A light flush was starting to work its way up Victor’s neck while Phichit appeared unaffected, and Yuuri started to worry that Victor had bitten off more than he could chew. If tonight went anything like the last time Victor had gotten plastered, things could end up a bit messy.

“Someone start the movie,” Seung-gil demanded from his throne with a pout. “What are we waiting for? And what are we watching tonight, anyways?”

“We’re watching The Hangover!” Phichit chirped. “I thought it was fitting,” he said to Yuuri with a wink.

Yuuri flushed and grabbed the remote. He hit play and relaxed in his seat, snuggling into the arm Victor lay across his shoulders. “You don’t have to beat Phichit, you know,” he murmured softly into Victor’s ear. “I’ll still like you even if you forfeit.”

Victor frowned at him. “What, did Phichit tell you to say that?” He glared over Yuuri’s head. “Nice try, Phichit! I may be an old man now, but I’m still Russian, and where I come from that counts for something!”

“You come from Russia! Of course they would say being Russian counts for something!” Phichit laughed. “I’ll have you know—”

“Shhhhh!” Seung-gil scowled over at the couch.

“Sooooorry!” Victor sang, not sounding sorry at all. “We’ll try to keep it down.” He finished the whiskey in his glass with a dramatic flourish, giving Phichit a pointed look. Phichit returned it with a level gave and tipped his own glass back, draining the remaining alcohol in one go.

Halfway through the movie Victor got up to relieve himself and returned missing his shirt and socks. “What are you doing?” Yuuri hissed urgently. He glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, but Guang-hong and Leo were focused only on each other, whispering quietly between gentle kisses, and Seung-gil was mouthing along to the dialogue on the screen while Phichit stared at him with rapt fascination.

“Yuuuuuri,” Victor murmured. He pressed a kiss behind Yuuri’s ear. “Yuuuuri, I’m so hot. It’s too hot, Yuuri, help.” He nuzzled his nose behind Yuuri’s ear as well as he tried to drag him onto his lap.

“Victor!”

“Noooo, not Victor. Vityaaaa,” Victor crooned. “Please, Yuuri, say it. Say ‘Vitya’.”

“If I call you that, will you let me go?” Yuuri asked, trying to keep his voice down.

The arm around his waist tightened. “No,” Victor pouted. “Never.”

Phichit tore his eyes away from Seung-gil’s silhouette long enough to glance over at Victor’s progress. “Hey!” he hissed. “Are you tapping out?”

“Never,” Victor replied with a stifled giggle. “I’m going to win Yuuri from you fair and square.”

“What?!” Yuuri squawked.

Five startled faces turned towards him in tandem.

Yuuri flushed. “Sorry,” he whispered, “I’ll be quiet.”

He waited until three of the faces had refocused on the movie before he turned towards Victor. “Win me?” He turned to glare at Phichit accusingly, rephrasing his question for his best friend. “What does he mean, win me?”

“Huh? Nothing!” Phichit said, picking up his glass of vodka and downing it in one go, levelling Victor with a challenging stare. Yuuri glared at him.

“Yuuuuuuri, pay attention to me. Come on, say ‘Vitya’.” Victor bit his earlobe and Yuuri felt his eyes glaze over with lust.

“Not. Now.” Yuuri said firmly, pushing down his desire. He frowned as Victor drained his own glass of Vodka in response, returning Phichit’s gaze.

Phichit shook his empy glass in Victor’s direction in a taunt, and Victor fell for the obvious bait that it was. He stood and grabbed Phichit’s glass out of his hand. “I’ll be right back,” he promised Yuuri before sashaying his way towards the kitchen. “Anyone else need anything?”

Yuuri watched in rapt fascination as Guang-hong and Leo had a quick conversation with each other entirely in eyebrow twitches. “No!” They chorused towards Victor’s retreating figure.

“Seung-gil?” Phichit asked gently. “Want anything?”

“No, thank you.”

Phichit nodded. “Just me and you, Victor!” he called towards the kitchen. “And hey, I want rum this time!”

Victor sauntered back in carrying two glasses filled to the brim with straight rum. He passed one to Phichit and then immediately tucked himself in tight to Yuuri’s side.

“Yuuuuuri,” he hissed in Yuuri’s ear the second he was situated. “I’m still too hot!”

“What do you want me to do about that?” Yuuri hissed back. “Drink some water!”

“Booooring.” Victor began unfastening his pants, to Yuuri’s increasing distress. “I’ll never beat Phichit that way.”

Victor shimmied out of his jeans and flung them to the right, followed swiftly by the tiniest pair of underwear Yuuri had ever seen. Guang-hong and Leo let out twin shrieks when the clothing landed on their faces.

“Get up,” Yuuri whispered into Victor’s ear urgently. “Let’s go.” He dragged Victor up by his arm. “Uh-um,” he paused, then turned to address the room at large, pointedly not making eye contact with Leo or Guang-hong, who were draped in Victor’s clothing. “It was nice to see you all again. Thanks for coming over. I’m just going to-to put Victor to bed. We’re going to bed. No!” Yuuri gasped as Victor wound his arms around him and began biting at his neck. “Just—okay, goodnight!” He grabbed one of Victor’s arms at random and dragged him down the hallway towards his room.

He tossed Victor onto his bed, refusing to acknowledge the blatant display of nudity. Victor kicked the comforter to the floor with an offended expression before wrapping himself in a sheet carefully. “I’m going to go get you some water, okay?” Yuuri asked, brushing Victor’s hair out of his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

“Mmm, ‘kay,” Victor mumbled. His eyes fluttered shut.

Yuuri saw his chance and took it, hurrying towards the kitchen and filling a glass with water as fast as possible before returning to Victor’s side. “Here, drink this.” He sat up unsteadily in bed and cupped his hands over Yuuri’s as Yuuri tipped the cup to his lips. “There, feeling any better yet, Victor?” Yuuri asked as he ran his fingers through Victor’s silver hair.

“Mmm,” Victor slurred out, “I’d be feeling better if you started calling me Vitya.” He pressed his spit-slick lips to Yuuri’s neck, sucking and biting his way from Yuuri’s shouler to his jaw. Yuuri shivered involuntarily.

“If I call you Vitya, will you put some underwear on?” Yuuri attempted, hoping his bribe would convince Victor not to sleep naked. There was no chance in hell he was willing to sleep next to Victor in the nude and risk waking up tangled up in his gorgeous, unencumbered limbs.

“Yes,” Victor acquiesced. “Anything, Yuuri. Anything for you. Yes.” He shuffled his torso into Yuuri’s soft embrace, clinging to him like he was a lifesaver and Victor was a drowning man. He began trailing a litany of kisses up Yuuri’s neck, pausing occasionally to suck a bruise or mark a bite into his skin. Yuuri let his eyes flutter shut as he succumbed to the sensations.

“Vitya,” he murmured cautiously. Victor didn’t try to hide his sharp intake of breath.

“Say it again,” he whispered urgently, "please, say it again." He bared his throat to Yuuri who groaned at the irresistable display, mouth watering at the long, pale column of Victor's neck. "Yuuuuuri." Victor began pawing at Yuuri, trying to drag him down, and Yuuri gave in to the offer, biting firmly into the meat of Victor’s neck. Victor keened.

Yuuri groaned as the noises Victor was letting out went straight to his groin. He felt his cock fill as he worked his way up Victor’s throat, sucking bruises into the pale flesh every few inches; the moans Victor was letting out were nothing short of pornographic. He pushed the heel of his palm to his sudden erection, frowning at his body’s betrayal. “Vitya!” he gasped out as his lips found Victor’s, sealing their mouths together.

“Yuuri,” Victor moaned in response. “Yuuuuuri.” He tugged at Yuuri’s hips, grinding their bodies together, and Yuuri felt the heat and hardness of Victor’s unclothed erection pressing against his own. A shiver raced down his spine.

The sound of a door snapping shut out in the main living area jerked Yuuri back to reality. He dragged himself away from Victor’s warm embrace with a muttered curse and a sinking feeling in of regret in his stomach. “Ah, ah. Victor, we can’t. Not like this, not again,” he whispered regretfully. “Please. Let’s just…go to sleep.” He extricated himself from the bed and found a pair of sweatpants on the floor, tossing them in Victor's direction. "Put these on, please, Victor."

Victor complied, blinking blearily at him, his eyes clouded with either lust or sleep; within seconds his eyelids slid shut and stayed there. “Mmm, okay, Yuuri. Whatever you say,” he mumbled. “Anything for my Yuuri. My lovely, wonderful Yuuri.” Victor dragged a hand down the side of Yuuri’s face with a small, soft smile.

“Goodnight, Victor.” Yuuri pressed a kiss to Victor’s forehead.

“Mmm,” Victor murmured back. In less than three seconds he was snoring gently.

“Sweet dreams,” Yuuri whispered into the dark. He let himself relax into the warmth of Victor’s embrace. He knew there would be hell to pay for their impulsive actions in the morning, but for now he could pretend the outside world didn't exist, and within seconds the safety of Victor's arms lulled him into a dreamless, restful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stop. Getting. Drunk. (@Myself AND Victor)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get hard, and then harder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be aware of the new rating!

Yuuri stirred awake the next morning feeling more rested than he had in weeks. His whole body was relaxed and warm, slowly easing into awareness, and he felt content but still slightly fuzzy. He also felt a tickle behind his ear.

“…Yuuri. Yuuri, wake up.” The tickled morphed into the brush of lips against his skin, and his brain came back online with a sudden jolt. Last night. The movie, Victor meeting his friends, Victor drinking. Victor. Victor, who was still naked, and whom he was now tangled up in bed with, pressed front-to-back. Victor, whose lips were now pressing against the back of his neck in gentle, closed mouth kisses.

Victor, who was apparently still drunk.

“Uh – um…Victor? What are you doing?”

“Finally,” Victor sighed before nuzzling his nose into the hollow behind Yuuri’s ear. “Good morning, solnyshko.”

“Good morning,” Yuuri replied, trying to stay calm. His body cried out at Victor’s touch. “How are you, um, how are you feeling?” Yuuri felt the vibrations of Victor’s laughter where he was pressed against his back, sending a spike of desire through him. _Not now_ , Yuuri thought desperately. Victor started trailing kisses down the back of his neck. _Yes. Now_ , Yuuri’s body replied.

“I have a little bit of a headache, but I’m fine. Thank you for taking care of me. Sorry for getting so carried away last night, but as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I have a bit of a competitive streak.” The trail of kisses paused for a moment and Victor hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose coming to bed with you counts as a forfeit to Phichit.” He shrugged. “It was worth it, though.”

Yuuri smiled cautiously, letting himself relax marginally into Victor’s hold, and the stupider, more primal part of his brain went wild at the contact. Victor didn’t sound like he was still drunk. Maybe the affection he was displaying was genuine? That would be nice, although it seemed unlikely – Victor hadn’t tried to make a move on Yuuri yet while sober, instead preferring to let Yuuri take the lead and pulling away when their kisses grew heated. It was probably best to check. His primal brain growled and chomped at the bit in impatient anticipation. “Ah, I’m glad. But you’re not, you know…” he trailed off, wondering how to phrase his question politely.

“Not what?”

“Not…still drunk?” He coughed nervously. “I just, I mean…”

“What? No!” Victor exclaimed, letting loose a full-bodied laugh. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?” He pulled away enough for Yuuri to turn in his arms and face him properly.

Yuuri blushed. “You drank a lot! And then I woke up to you kissing my neck! I’m just making sure.” Victor’s eyes went huge and his face split into a huge grin as he realized what Yuuri was implying. Yuuri buried his face into the bare skin of Victor’s chest. “Shut up!”

“…Just making sure? Why would you need to be sure I’m not drunk?” Amusement laced his words.

“You’ve never done that when you’re sober,” Yuuri mumbled into his chest. Embarrassment warred with want, causing a very confusing reaction inside of him as his body tried to figure out whether to send blood to his face or to his cock. Yuuri squirmed anxiously. Surely, this was how he died; incinerated by the heat of his own humiliation.

Victor tugged his chin up to make eye contact. “Yuuri. Have you wanted me to? Because I assure you, if I had known that, I would have.”

“Oh,” Yuuri said softly. He felt his embarrassment crumble at the admission, leaving only a burning need in its wake. Could it really be so easy? Surely Victor had to know how attractive he was, how much Yuuri desired him. Was that all that was holding him back? Waiting for Yuuri to ask? “Yes, please.”

Victor didn’t hesitate, dipping his head to catch Yuuri’s lips with his own. Yuuri surged to meet him like water bursting free from a dyke, sliding the arm between them up to Victor’s chest and wrapping his free arm around Victor to tug him close; he could feel Victor’s fingers mirror his on his own back, clutching at the fabric of his shirt. Yuuri broke their kiss just enough to stare into Victor’s eyes, heart crowing out in joy upon seeing a desire there that rivaled his own. He slid his hand up into Victor’s hair and used his grip to press their faces together again, capturing Victor’s lower lip between his teeth. Yuuri tugged slightly and let the responding gasp fuel him, their kisses growing harder and more desperate as he raked his nails against Victor’s scalp.

“Yuuri,” Victor gasped out, “Yuuri, please.” His breath stuttered on the words, and he sounded so much like an echo of himself from the night before that Yuuri had another moment of panic before remembering Victor was coherent this time; instead of drunken slurring, his drawl was borne from lust.

He kept his grip on Victor’s hair firm as he moved, trading lips for the drag of his mouth against Victor’s neck, stopping every few inches to suck or bite gently at the sensitive skin. He worked his way down to Victor’s collarbone slowly. Every new mark he left had Victor crying out quiet, bitten-back sounds, hands scrabbling for purchase against Yuuri’s back. Yuuri reached the top of his chest and licked across his clavicle before biting down hard on the meat of Victor’s shoulder, causing Victor to shudder and gasp and roll his hips into Yuuri’s. Yuuri glanced at him with a smirk, attempting a sultry gaze through his lashes. Victor stared down at him in awe, falling for the effect; his eyes glazed over, mouth falling open, lips wet and shiny with spit. “Please,” he murmured again. “Please.”

“Yes,” Yuuri replied. “I’ve got you, Victor. I’ll take care of you.”

Victor nodded frantically and Yuuri grabbed hold of his hip, hard, pushing him so that Victor was lying flat on his back across the bed. If Victor was giving him this opportunity, giving himself over with to Yuuri with full consent, Yuuri wasn’t going to hold back. He swung a leg up and over to straddle Victor, bringing their mouths together again in a graceless crash of tongues and teeth; it was less kissing at this point than panting fitfully into each other’s mouths as Yuuri ground his hips down against Victor’s obvious erection. The fact that Victor had never dressed last night had not escaped Yuuri’s attention and he used it to his advantage, sitting up to let the blankets pool around their waists and admiring the full view of Victor spread naked and breathless beneath him, clutching at the bedsheets.

Yuuri stared down at him in awe, Victor’s body immaculate beneath him, and he was suddenly very glad of the fact that he was still clothed in pajamas. Victor looked like an image of a god carved by Michelangelo; Yuuri knew his own body was more like a cherub. Even still, the heat of Victor’s eyes on him made him feel stripped down to his core, and the expression Victor stared up at him with was as bare naked and scorching hot as his body. Yuuri sucked his bottom lip into his mouth at the sight as he ran his hands reverently down Victor’s body, exploring the feel of Victor’s muscles beneath his fingers, watching them ripple and twitch when he stumbled upon sensitive areas. He let his index finger swipe across Victor’s nipple and gasped in delight when the movement was matched by a twitch of Victor’s dick.

Victor squirmed under him. He made an abortive effort to thrust up against Yuuri, desperately searching for friction but powerless to create it in his position. Yuuri smirked. “I said I’ll take care of you, Victor,” he admonished quietly. “Don’t you trust me?” He let a pout slide into his tone and across his features, pairing the effect with his most earnest puppy eyes. Victor stilled, looking shell-shocked, and Yuuri rewarded him with another swipe across his nipple. He was struck by the sudden memory of Victor begging him to use a nickname last night, and reveled in the feeling of an early victory as he let the name slide between his lips. “Thank you, Vitya.”

Victor gave up any last pretense of staying quiet, moaning wantonly as his hands flew to Yuuri’s hips to grab him hard. “Yuuri,” he cried out, shameless. “Please, I need you. Please.”

Yuuri held fast against the tug of Victor’s hands on his waist, leaning down to replace his fingertip with his mouth. He gripped Victor’s ribs as he ran his tongue over the stiffened peak of Victor’s nipple, arousal curling through his belly at the sound of Victor keening at the sensation. He brought his free hand up to play with Victor’s other nipple and Victor bucked under him, arching his chest into the feeling. Yuuri bit down carefully, swirling his tongue over the bud in his mouth while pinching and rolling the other in his hand. Victor went wild in response; his whole body shuddered under Yuuri and his hands shot up under Yuuri’s shirt, nails clawing and scraping against Yuuri’s skin as he lost control. Victor’s cries cut off abruptly, and Yuuri reluctantly pulled back from his position atop Victor’s chest to look up at his face.

Victor was wide-eyed and slack-jawed, gaze locking onto Yuuri’s as soon as he looked up. Yuuri tapped a finger against his side. “Doing okay?” he asked, watching Victor’s expression carefully. It would do no good to push Victor past the point of pleasure so early on; he wanted him to enjoy every minute this. Yuuri relaxed as a small smile flitted across Victor’s face, eyes clear with trust but still full of desire.

“Wonderful,” Victor purred, running his hands up and down Yuuri’s sides. “But I don’t think it’s very fair that you’re still clothed, hm? Let’s get this off of you.” He tugged at the hem of Yuuri’s shirt and Yuuri took the hint, bypassing his insecurities and removing it with a swift tug. He tossed it across the room before he could think to regret it. Victor took this success and ran with it, eyes roaming over Yuuri’s torso hungrily as his fingers dipped into the waistband of Yuuri’s pajama bottoms, running along the inside of the elastic. His hands inched low around the sides before darting quickly down to squeeze two large handfuls of Yuuri’s ass.

“Victor!” Yuuri squealed, tugging Victor’s hands out of his pants and rearranging his hold so that he was gripping Victor by his wrists, pinning them to the bed next to his ears. Victor’s eyes shot wide open and his laughter cut off immediately at the change in position. Something dark and heady stirred in Yuuri’s chest as he watched Victor tilt his chin up in submission, and he felt his cock give a pulse of want. Victor was his for the taking, baring his throat for him to claim and Yuuri took it for the invitation it was, leaning down again to suck a deep bruise behind the bolt of Victor’s jaw. He rocked his hips up and down over Victor’s and felt Victor’s hips push back in response, desperately chasing the friction as their erections slid against each other. It was delicious but not enough; Yuuri unlatched himself from Victor’s neck with a gentle nip to the fresh bruise while simultaneously snapping his hips in a hard, fast jerk, dragging noises of pleasure out of both of their throats. Victor’s cries of need were like a drug in his system, urging Yuuri on and sending shockwaves of pleasure and anticipation curling through his veins.

Yuuri glanced up at Victor’s face again, hoping to catch another glimpse of the heated desire that shone clearly in the dark of Victor’s blown-out pupils, but his eyes had fallen shut. Yuuri frowned, biting back a growl. As much as he liked knowing he could make Victor lose himself in sensation, he wanted to keep all the focus and attention on him and he changed course immediately, sliding his body down until his hips were hovering above Victor’s calves and Victor’s cock bobbed directly in front of his mouth. He moved without pause, not wanting to waste the element of surprise; Yuuri grabbed the base of Victor’s cock firmly with one hand and then let his jaw fall open, swallowing it halfway into his mouth in one go. His lips stretched pleasantly around Victor’s girth as his tongue ran a quick, sharp line up the underside.

The responding noise from Victor could best be described as an engine choking to life, or more likely a man choking on his own tongue – his breath stopped abruptly before spluttering back in wet, heaving gasps, and Yuuri smirked around the dick in his mouth. He flicked his eyes up and saw Victor staring down at him, face bright red and eyes so dark they looked completely black. “Holy shit,” Victor whispered, reverent.

Yuuri let out a muffled moan as their gaze connected. He kept his eyes locked on Victor’s as he slowly began to bob his head, taking in inch by inch every time he went down until he could feel the head of Victor’s cock hit the back of his throat. His heart was pounding and his toes curled in anticipation and excitement. Victor’s hands had woven into Yuuri’s hair and were resting there gently as though Victor was afraid to grab on too hard; Yuuri grumbled internally and took one of his hands off its place on Victor’s thigh to press Victor’s fingers against his head, trying to mime a firm grip without pulling off his dick to speak the instructions out loud. Yuuri keened as Victor thankfully took the hint and grabbed two firm handfuls of Yuuri’s hair, tugging sharply and pulling him up until just the tip of his dick was resting in Yuuri’s mouth, the head leaking salty precum onto his tongue.

“Ah,” Victor gasped, holding Yuuri’s head in place. “Hn, ah, yes. Fuck, Yuuri, you’re…”

Yuuri impatiently swirled his tongue around the head of Victor’s dick, effectively cutting off the rest of whatever Victor had been planning to say, determined to make him lose control. He felt his own cock pulse as he watched Victor’s restraint snap at his movement, reveling in the power he held. Victor instantly pushed Yuuri’s face down as his hips shot up, fucking into his mouth desperately, and Yuuri’s eyes fluttered shut as he relaxed his jaw and let Victor move, sliding in and out of his mouth in fast, hard jerks. The combined feeling of the weight of Victor’s cock resting heavy on his tongue and the sharp sting of Victor’s fingers woven through his hair sent sparks of pleasure racing through his blood and he reached a hand into his pants to palm at his own erection, giving himself a few short, desperate tugs.

Victor let out a low, guttural groan and his grip on Yuuri’s hair loosened enough for Yuuri to pull back and glance up at Victor; Victor was staring down at him, chest heaving, watching Yuuri touch himself with undisguised fascination. Yuuri pulled off Victor’s dick entirely, sitting up just long enough to wriggle out of his sweatpants before ducking back down to reseal his lips around Victor’s length, keeping his hips high in the air to show off under the heavy stare. He grabbed Victor’s hands and pushed them back into his hair, waiting until Victor tightened his grip before bringing his hand back to his own erection, matching every thrust into his mouth with a stroke on his cock. Victor’s fingers tugged on his hair firm enough to stay just on the right side of the pain-pleasure border, his hips thrusting up into Yuuri’s mouth in a rapidly devolving rhythm as Yuuri pushed him to the brink.

“Yuuri,” Victor groaned out, breathless. “Fuck, Yuuri, I’m close, I’m so close.”

 Yuuri moaned around his dick in response, trying to relax his throat to take Victor in deeper, deeper, until he felt Victor’s fingers tighten and his thighs tense up. Victor’s grip held Yuuri’s head locked in place as he let out a strangled cry and spilled himself onto Yuuri’s tongue, gasping desperately for air, shuddering as he came.

Yuuri swallowed diligently as Victor’s hands dropped from his hair, licking Victor clean while Victor caught his breath. He let his own cock fall heavy and ignored between his legs in favor of running his hands up and down Victor’s sides, scraping his nails across his skin in a soothing gesture to bring Victor back from his high, and after a few long minutes dragged past Victor pulled Yuuri up to lay flush on top of his chest.

Victor gave Yuuri a small peck on the lips as soon as he caught his breath before pulling back to touch their noses together. “That was…wow. Um, thank you,” he choked out, staring at Yuuri in amazement before dragging their lips together in another, deeper kiss. Victor dipped his tongue past Yuuri’s lips, chasing the saltiness of come in his mouth.

Yuuri rolled his hips against the crease of Victor’s thigh and let out a small cry of need against him, awareness of his own aching desire returning suddenly at the possessive act. Victor let out a small chuckle.  “Fuck, you’re incredible,” he murmured against Yuuri’s lips, then tipped his head down to nose underneath Yuuri’s jaw. “I can’t believe you. You’re so hot, Yuuri, did you know that?”

A high-pitched whine escaped Yuuri’s mouth without his permission. It was exactly what he needed, what he never found himself brave enough to ask for. He tipped his head back in an echo to Victor’s earlier submission, letting the praise wash over him, losing himself to Victor’s voice as he rutted against Victor’s abs. “So fucking hot, I think I must have dreamed you up,” Victor said against his throat. One of Victor’s hands closed around Yuuri’s dick and began rapidly jerking him off while words dripped like honey out of his mouth. “Your mouth, Jesus Christ, it’s not fair. You’re so good. And your body, I want to run my tongue over every inch of you, you look like you taste amazing.” Victor licked a stripe from the hollow of Yuuri’s throat up to his jaw and let out a low moan. Yuuri scrabbled his nails across Victor’s back, needy, panting, desperate for just that little bit more. He didn’t care how Victor had stumbled upon his kink so quickly, couldn’t even spare a stray thought to be embarrassed about it, he just wanted to hear more of Victor’s voice crying out about how good Yuuri was. At this rate everything would be over in seconds. Yuuri gasped over the top of Victor’s head.

“You’re like a fucking wet dream, Yuuri, I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted you since the second I saw you. God, you have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming of this.” Victor bit down on Yuuri’s earlobe carefully and then moaned directly into his ear. “I need you, Yuuri, I need you inside me. I bet you would feel so good, filling me up until I couldn’t take any more. Do you want that, Yuuri? Do you want to fuck me?”

Victor punctuated his last question with a harsh twist of his wrist and Yuuri came with a shout, caught off guard by the intensity of his orgasm. He rode it out hard, bucking his hips into Victor’s fist as he imagined the lewd image of Victor spread on his back underneath him stuffed full of Yuuri’s cock, crying out again as a second wave ran through him and pulsing more come out onto Victor’s hand and the bedspread.

Yuuri shook through his aftershocks and then flopped boneless onto his back next to Victor. He panted lightly, brain only half functional. “Wow.”

Victor was staring back at him in shock and awe. “Yeah, wow. That was amazing. You’re amazing.”

Yuuri blushed and flopped a hand onto Victor’s stomach, grimacing when his palm immediately landed in a splotch of his own come. “You don’t have to say that anymore, I clearly already came.” Now that he was no longer riding the high of his sexual urgency he could feel the stirrings of doubt and shame poking at the walls of his mind that always came along with acknowledging his kink, and he winced. Victor must think he was absolutely pathetic for getting off on being complimented.

Victor arched an eyebrow as though sensing his train of thought. He grabbed Yuuri’s hand and moved it to another pool of come, dragging his finger through it. “Clearly, yes,” he said, watching Yuuri with a meaningful look in his eyes, “and so did I, so please believe me when I say you’re fucking incredible.”

Yuuri blushed deeper and sat up, preening slightly at the reminder. Victor had enjoyed it, too. His tried to force his guilt and shame back into the far corners of his mind as he reached across Victor for the tissues on his nightstand, contemplating the hope that Victor might not be completely disgusted by him. He gently swiped at the sticky mess covering Victor’s front, feeling a secondary, mild embarrassment at the sheer volume of the fluid. “Yeah, well, same to you. I mean, obviously, look at this mess.” He let out a wry laugh. “Sorry.”

Victor grabbed the wrist that was swiping across his body and took the balled-up tissue out of Yuuri’s hand, tossing it into the trash and then tugging Yuuri back down next to him. Their eyes met and Yuuri watched Victor’s expression carefully. He didn’t look like he thought Yuuri was a steaming heap of human garbage, which was a good sign; if anything, he looked maybe a little…fond? Yuuri blinked. Yeah, fond. A warm sensation spread through his chest.

Victor coaxed Yuuri into laying down half on top of him and began to run gentle fingers down Yuuri’s side, replicating Yuuri’s habit of tracing patterns into his skin as he nuzzled his nose into Yuuri’s hair. “Don’t be sorry,” he murmured, muffled. “I can’t think of a better way to wake up.”

“Mmm, me neither,” Yuuri sighed back, shoving his face into the crook of Victor’s neck. He pressed a gentle kiss to Victor’s skin, letting his eyes flutter shut in contentment as his doubts slid back into the corners of his mind. “We should probably get up soon, though. And you,” he punctuated with a jab to Victor’s ribs, “should probably apologize to Phichit for drunkenly stripping in front of all of his friends.” Yuuri giggled as Victor yelped twice, first in shock at the jab and then indignation at Yuuri’s admonition.

“No fair,” Victor whined, rolling away towards the edge of the bed. “So mean, Yuuri!”

“That’s me,” Yuuri laughed, “the meanest!” He followed Victor towards the edge and swung his legs to the floor only to find Victor’s arms octopusing their way around his waist, stopping him from moving. “Victor, let me up!”

“Five more minutes?” Victor begged as he tugged him back. “Come on, darling, stay with me just a while longer, please?”

Yuuri groaned in defeat.

It was nearly noon by the time they finally dragged themselves out into the living room, Victor excusing himself to feed Makkachin and take her out while Yuuri started on breakfast; there was no sign of any other life in the apartment, but Yuuri knew from experience that Phichit would be up and about the second he smelled food being made. Right on cue, Phichit stumbled out of his room at the smell of frying eggs, yawning widely and rubbing at his eyes.

“Coffee?”

“In the pot. Toast?”

“Mmm.”

Phichit slouched around just outside Yuuri’s bubble, snatching the offered piece of toast directly out of the toaster and shoving it into his mouth to hold with his teeth as he poured himself a steaming cup of coffee. He blinked hard, twice, and then exchanged the toast for the rim of the mug and downed half the cup.

“Jesus, Phichit, you know I hate it when you do that,” Yuuri complained. “At least let it cool down for like, half a second before you drink!”

Phichit groaned and set his mug on the table, collapsing into his chair. “Shhh,” he moaned, waving a hand in Yuuri’s direction. “Nooo.” He dropped his head onto his arms.

Yuuri laughed and ruffled Phichit’s hair fondly as he set the pan of eggs on the table. “Rough night?”

“Mmf nhht nnn mmf mng,” Phichit grumbled into his arms.

“Oh, I see,” Yuuri replied, amused. There was no point trying to translate a hungover Phichit, let alone hold a conversation with him, so he started portioning their breakfast onto plates in silence.

The peace and quiet was quickly broken by the front door slamming open, signifying the return of Victor and Makkachin and causing Phichit to yelp and sit up with a jerk.

“Yuuri, we’re back!” Victor called cheerfully. “It’s such a lovely day out, and you’ll never guess what we saw – oh!” He cut off abruptly at the sight of Phichit glaring at him, looking the most hungover a hungover person had ever looked. Victor’s eyes flew wide in sympathy and one hand came up to cover his mouth. His expression turned sheepish. “Good morning, Phichit,” he said in a hushed voice.

Yuuri laughed. “Don’t worry, he did this to himself. He can deal with the consequences.” Phichit swung his glare towards Yuuri and held eye contact as he finished the rest of his still-scalding coffee in one more drink. Yuuri shuddered.

“Anyways, you’ll never guess what we saw,” Victor continued in a softer tone, pulling out a chair and accepting a mug of coffee from Yuuri. “There was this other dog, at the park, and…”

Victor chattered away happily as the three of them ate, describing every moment of his walk with Makkachin in acute detail. Phichit slowly warmed up to the conversation, eyes sliding into focus as the caffeine kicked in. Yuuri grinned.

“Finally with us in the land of the living, Phichit?”

“Ugh, barely. Why aren’t you more hungover?” Phichit frowned at Victor accusingly. “I know you drank almost as much as I did, even though I’m the official winner.” He looked smug in the face of Victor’s pout. “You bailed! I don’t make the rules. But really, was the morning sex really that much of a cure?”

Yuuri choked on his bite of toast.

“Well, maybe a little bit,” Victor said cheekily as he pounded Yuuri on the back. “Or maybe I just hold my liquor better! I’m Russian, you know!”

“Yeah, you mentioned last night,” Phichit said with a long sigh. “It’s not fair.”

Yuuri finally managed to suppress his spluttering. “Uh, um, how much did you – I mean, what was – how much did you hear?” He flushed bright red and buried his face in his hands, mortified. _Is it possible to die of humiliation?_ He wondered. _Probably not,_ _but if there was ever a time to find out…_ “Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

Phichit laughed. “Yeah, you definitely don’t. Not that I mind, I’m happy you finally got some, Yuuri, but maybe next time try to remember a little music does wonders for covering up the more…intimate noises.”

Yuuri let out an inhuman screech. “No. Nope, nope, nope, you didn’t hear anything. Let me live, Phichit, please, oh my God.”

“Don’t I get a congratulations, too?” Victor pouted.

Phichit grinned. “Hell yeah, you do. High five! Work on a playlist.”

“I’ll get right on that. Oh, and I actually have just the song in mind –”

The shrill ring of a cell phone cut off the rest of Victor’s sentence. He glanced at the I.D. and spared the two men an apologetic glance before standing up. “I’ve got to take this. I’ll be right back. Think of music options while I’m away, Yuuri!” He gave a jaunty salute and slipped out of the kitchen.

Phichit immediately turned on Yuuri. “Okay, okay, tell me everything! Oh, man, I can’t believe you two finally hooked up!” He laughed at Yuuri’s mortified expression. “Don’t be embarrassed! It’s not like I don’t know what sex is, and from the sounds of it yours was great.”

“Phichit, no! It’s not like – we didn’t have sex, okay?” Yuuri tried to project his most innocent expression. Technically it wasn’t a lie, but Phichit looked rightfully skeptical.

“Oh, okay, so Victor was just moaning your name like that in his sleep? That’s quite the dream he must have been having. One you were apparently having too, so unless you’re living out the plot of Inception and haven’t bothered to tell me, in which case I would never forgive you, you should probably just give it up. Our walls aren’t that thick, you know!”

Yuuri was definitely dying. Dying or already dead, maybe this was hell. That would explain a lot.

“Shut up, it’s fine,” Phichit giggled. “Now come on, spill!”

Yuuri tried in vain to fight down another blush. “What’s there to tell, since you seem to have heard everything?”

Phichit nodded. “Yeah, I maybe heard too much. Just, next time, music! But what was he like? Was it good?” He threw a hand over his mouth and let out a gasp. “Yuuri, I didn’t know it was possible for a human to be this red! Amazing!” He grabbed his phone and snapped a picture before Yuuri could react, muttering about tomato jokes while he uploaded the photo.

Yuuri’s mouth dropped open and he gaped at Phichit. “Why would you do that?!”

“Because it’s incredible! Ugh, why is the only joke about a tomato blushing the stupid salad dressing one? Come on, internet, you can do better than that.”

Yuuri was spared further humiliation by Victor returning, padding into the kitchen on soft feet and staring down at his phone.

“Oh, Victor!” Yuuri greeted him with a bright smile that faded when he saw the look on Victor’s face. His heart immediately started racing. “What’s wrong?”

Victor sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Ah, sorry. That was my boss in D.C., Yakov? He needs me to fly out for a few days this week. One of my regulars is taking issue with my replacement and she’s insisting I be the one to work with her. Yakov got her to agree to push everything into two and a half days instead of spreading her appointments out over the whole week, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to have to leave.” He heaved out another sigh. “He’s already arranged a flight for me. I leave tomorrow night and I’ll be back late on Wednesday. I’m sorry, Yuuri.”

Yuuri felt his nerves settle as Victor explained the situation. “Oh, Victor, that’s okay. I thought it you were going to say something much worse than that!”

Victor let out a dry laugh. “Sorry. I just feel bad. I don’t want to leave you. I told you I’d be here for you this whole month and I barely made it a week before leaving you again, that’s not very fair of me. And anyways, I know it’s stupid but I don’t like the thought of leaving you here all alone. What if you need me?”

Phichit rolled his eyes and stuffed a cold piece of toast into his mouth. “You’re right, that is pretty stupid of you, considering I am a real person who exists.” He hummed around his mouthful of bread. “What do you see me as, chopped liver?”

“Well, obviously I know you exist –”

“Funny, I could have sworn you just said you’d be leaving him here ‘all alone’ –”

“I meant without me –”

“Um, excuse me.”

Phichit and Victor turned to Yuuri with twin expressions of surprise.

“First of all, yes, Phichit, you are a real person, and yes, Victor, you should acknowledge that, but also what about me seems so helpless that I can’t be left on my own? Do I seem like some baby bird who will die if it doesn’t have a parent come by to feed it? Who do you think just cooked your breakfast?” Yuuri frowned, feeling justifiably indignant. “You got here five days ago, Victor. I was managing just fine before that. What makes you think I suddenly need you now?”

“Ah,” Victor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “So maybe ‘need’ is the wrong word here?”

“And what word would be the right one to make that sentence okay?” Yuuri could feel the indignation morphing into frustration and anger. How dare Victor presume to treat him like a child? He gave Victor a hard look, ignoring Phichit’s attempts to catch his eye.

Victor turned his head away, avoiding eye contact. “I meant what if you miss me,” he said very softly. He ran a hand through his hair again and looked down at his knees before speaking very rapidly. “I just thought – I know I’m going to miss you, Yuuri. I’ve been missing you for months already and I have to leave you again, it’s not fair, and I – I know what it’s like, and I hate it, I hate the feeling of missing you and I was thinking ‘what if he misses me too,’ I don’t want to do something that would make you sad or upset like it makes me and I know that’s maybe too much to assume for you, too soon, but – ” He glanced up at Yuuri and stopped short at whatever he saw there, cutting himself off with a sharp intake of breath. He stood abruptly. “I’m sorry. This is a lot. I can be a lot. I know that.” He gave a short nod and then turned on his heel, retreating towards Yuuri’s bedroom with a muttered ‘excuse me.’ Yuuri and Phichit were left sitting in stunned silence.

 _He’s upset over me? He’s sad he has to leave because he’s going to…miss me?_ Yuuri nearly scoffed at the thought. It was a fairly good cover, he could admit, and not one that he would have thought of so quickly; still he didn’t appreciate that Victor would so readily lie to his face. That was just as bad as treating him like he was a child. And with such conviction! It was dangerous to trust a man who could pull off such a flawless act.

“That…wasn’t what I thought he was going to say,” Phichit said slowly, glancing over at Yuuri with a sheepish look. “Um, maybe you should go talk to him?”

“I don’t need you telling me what to do,” Yuuri snapped, frustration and confusion manifesting into a flare of anger. He knew his outburst was misdirected but he refused to take it back, still feeling a sting of resentment. He could feel Phichit’s hard stare on his face and he shrank away, slamming his eyes shut and hugging his arms around his torso, trying to disappear into himself.

Phichit let out a sigh. “Yeah, okay. I’m just going to clean up and go shower while you do whatever you want to do about this. Thanks for breakfast.” Yuuri peeked his eyes open at the scrape of Phichit’s chair across the tile, trying to pretend he couldn’t hear the bitterness in Phichit’s tone. He heard the faucet turn on as Phichit rinsed their dishes.

He felt hot tears of guilt well up in the corners of his eyes but he willed them back, refusing to let Phichit see him cry. He was going to have to apologize to Phichit for real, later, when he had calmed down a bit, and it wasn’t fair to manipulate forgiveness out of him by crying. Maybe Victor was right, maybe he really should be treated like a child since he was apparently dead set on acting like one. He wanted desperately to escape back to his room but he couldn’t, not with Victor there, so Yuuri gripped his sides tighter, digging his nails into his ribs, trying to keep his breathing even. This was all his fault, he had fucked up, again; might as well own up to it. He let out a small gasp as the first tears dripped off his lashes, wiping a hand across his eyes. He glanced up just in time to see Phichit give him a long, meaningful glance before slipping away, leaving Yuuri at the table alone with his regret.


End file.
